Complicated Love
by StoicL
Summary: AU. Fate came back after a year from TSAB a military Academy. How will Nanoha and Fate face each other? Is love enough to get them back together? What future lies for them? Re-writing previous chaps. (3-7ch) changing it to Omniscient POV
1. Chapter 1 Scarf

***Warning! I do not own MGLN characters.***

 ***Author's notes: To those who had read chapter 1-11, I had decided to re-write and change the POV to omniscient. I just need more time to work on it. I hope you guys will like it.***

She was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for the sun to rise. The blonde was twitching on her bed for several hours thinking about her return from TSAB, a military academy. Still wide awake, she decided to take her phone and browsed her gallery viewing the old saved photos. Memories resurfaced when she saw a photograph that brought back a special memory, happened a year ago. A crimson-eyed blonde was resting her head on the shoulder of a certain auburn-haired girl with beautiful and expressive sapphire eyes, a shimmering smile on her rosy cheeks, wrapped around by a red scarf on their necks that linked them together. Bundling up close to each other on that winter day they took a snapshot, rendering a blissful happiness of two people who were madly in love.

Recollecting the love that they had, a sudden pain struck her chest recalling the day that her heart was torn up into pieces by the very same person. Sadness clouded her feature and she smiled bitterly, covering her eyes with her hand, persuading herself she thought out loud in a croaky voice "You should stopped thinking of her Fate and just go to sleep! She had been torturing your mind for hours!"

Still having her thoughts about a certain auburn-haired woman, she frowned, grabbing ahold of her stuffed rabbit in front of her face giving herself a bitter laugh and said "Come on! Nanoha, stop popping up on my head and let me go to sleep! I need to regain my energy! Mou!"

Minutes had passed, finally leaving behind her thoughts about Nanoha, she started to wonder on what will be her encounter on her first day after not attending the school for two weeks since the classes had started. Then, thinking about her kouhai's, wondering on how they will react for her return made her feel excited. With those thoughts in her head, she desperately tried closing her eyes while holding her small-sized stuffed rabbit on her chest, three hours before her wake up time, the blonde finally fell in a peacefully her slumber.

================================**o0o**===================================

The rays of the sun playing on her eyelids woke Fate up. Stretching lazily like a cat, she decided to get up and took a few steps towards the window pane to open it. Feeling the soft breeze, she took a deep breath, the fresh smell of the cherry blossoms enveloped her nose and made her smile with the thought that it was a fine spring morning.

"Ti-ti! Tic-tic! Tic-tic-tic! Tic-tic!" a sharp high-pitched sound caught her attention, dragging her steps towards her bed and exasperatedly took her phone to shut the alarm down. A quick glance at the screen made her fuzzy brain awake and she almost jumped out of her skin, it was already 8:30 AM! Realizing that she had tapped the snooze button a while ago, she threw her phone on the bed.

"Sheeeesh! I'm totally late! I must hurry!"

The blonde ran towards the bathroom and took a quick shower. After she finished putting on her uniform, she grabbed her favorite red scarf and rolled it on her neck. Not bothering to eat her breakfast, she took her keys and stuffed bunny, putting it inside her bag then she started sprinting her way towards the car to get to school as soon as she can.

"What a great morning!" Mumbling to herself as she was driving her car on the way to the school entrance. Impatiently tapping her fingers on the steering wheel while the school guard was opening the gate, she continued reprimanding herself "Good job, Fate! This will be your first homeroom appearance after two weeks of your absence, arriving at school at 9:30 AM what can you say about it!" When she had parked her car, she started to walk hurriedly towards the faculty office to meet her homeroom teacher.

Fate entered the office, lucky enough to find her homeroom teacher, she moved a few steps heading towards her desk. "Good morning, Megumi sensei. Fate Testarossa." Bowing her head she continued to speak "I would like to apologize for not attending the first two weeks of classes, also for arriving late, too." The blonde smile awkwardly as when she finished speaking, feeling embarrassed in arriving late at school.

Megumi-sensei turned her gaze and smiled at her, ignoring what she had said she spoke "It's good to see you again, Testarossa-san. How have you been in the year since I last saw you?" Inspecting the blonde from head to foot, she continued "I can see there have been lots of changes in your physique. You have grown into such a beautiful lady! Oh well, you were already beautiful, at least now you are much taller."

Hearing the compliments from her favorite teacher, blushing a little Fate smiled at her and said "I've been well. Thank you so much, Megumi-sensei! Again, I am very sorry for my tardiness." She politely bowed her head while looking at the teacher.

Megumi-sensei gave her a dismissal wave "Don't mind it, Testarossa-san. Now let's get you to class. Follow me." Hearing her teacher's instruction, without having second thoughts, Fate smiled and followed her.

"Sorry for interrupting." Megumi-sensei entered the classroom, excusing herself for the sudden intrusion during the blonde's Math class while Fate standing outside the classroom where no one from the inside could see her except for their Math teacher Honda-sensei , observing how the teacher spoke with each other.

Honda-sensei smiled while nodding her head, understanding the purpose of the younger teacher's presence, taking a quick look at the blonde, clearing her throat to catch her student's attention she spoke seriously "Class, it seems that you will be having a new classmate." Pausing a little, she continued "For some reasons, she was not able to join the class since the opening ceremony, and now she's here. She's supposedly your senpai but due to some circumstances, she did not enroll last year." Turning her gaze to the blonde student, the Math teacher gave her a signal to enter the classroom.

Understanding what her teacher instructed her to do, Fate silently moved forward besides Honda-sensei's table. Everyone from the classroom was starstruck seeing the blonde knowing that she's popular in her batch.

"Dang! What's Fate-senpai doing here?! Having her in the class is cool!" One of the students from the third row was whispering to her seatmate.

"Not to mention that Takamachi-san is also here." The other student replied.

"Heck! With Alicia-san and Reinforce-san, Our class was full of beauties from the tennis team!" One of the boys from the third row responded in awe.

"True. And don't forget that they were not just beauties but also brains especially Takamachi-san."

"Oh! I've heard that Fate Testarossa-senpai got a perfect score on her entrance exams, followed by Takamachi-san who got the mark of 98."

"Sugoi! Our entrance exams were widely known as entrance exam hell!"

"On the same year, the two of them took make-up classes on summer."

"How the hell did you know that?!" the other student asked.

"Silence!" Honda-sensei reprimanded the class. "Introduce yourself Testarossa-san." She continued.

Glancing at her classmates, there she saw her little sister, Alicia standing in front of her seat. Sitting beside her was Reinforce, her sister's best friend who has the surprised look on her face. The blonde smiled seeing familiar faces in her class. "Good morning. Fate Testarrosa. Seventeen years of age. Please to meet you all!" The blonde slightly bowed her head while seriously looking at her classmates. The confused auburn-haired girl sitting in the last row caught her attention that made her heart jump wondering why she was there.

"Fate-neesama!" Alicia loudly called her older sister's name that made everyone in the classroom glanced in her direction. The older blonde smiled at her little sister, putting her pointer finger in her lips gesturing her to be quiet. Getting what the older blonde wanted her to do, Alicia sat down on her desk.

"Alright, please take your seat next to Takamachi-san. From now on, she will be your partner during our pairing activities." Hearing what the teacher had said made her felt nervous. Not in her expectations to see the sapphire eyed girl to be her classmate and now they are going to be seatmates.

Mumbling to herself the blonde said, "Fate, calm down and just ignore Nanoha."

Walking silently towards her desk, Fate was gawking at the auburn-haired girl who was staring at her. As when their eyes met, Nanoha was the first one to glance away from her, pretending to write something on her paper. Without saying any word from the girl who was sitting next to her, she sat down on her desk.

On the other row, Alicia sent their friends a text message containing "Hayate-chan, Vita-chan. Fate-neesama is back! Let's have a lunch together! No further questions! The class is starting. Ja né!"

The morning classes were finished without Fate noticing it. Her mind was occupied by the awkward situation that she's into. Sitting next to Nanoha gave her mixed emotions that made her mind blank. Her inhibitions were consuming her.

As when the blonde was setting out for lunch, their classmates gathered in front of her, asking questions on why she didn't enroll last year. "Testarossa-senpai! Why didn't you enroll last year? Alicia-san didn't tell us about you!"

Smiling awkwardly on her classmates' inquiries, the blonde gently scratched her cheek "First, you can drop the senpai. We are all in the same year now. No need to be so formal." Looking at Alicia dragging Reinforce who were hurriedly walking towards her she continued "Alicia didn't know that I will be enrolling this year. It's just I did not consider before that we might end up being classmates."

"Excuse me, guys! Let me borrow my oneesama, neh?" the younger blonde winked at her classmates grabbing ahold of Fate to stay away from their classmates. The older blonde sighed in relief.

Pressing her body, giving her older sister a tight hug Alicia spoke directly to Fate "Mou! Onee-sama! Why didn't you tell me that you'll be back in Midchilda High this year!" Releasing Fate from her cuddle, pouting at her older sister then she whispered "Onee-sama, I thought you are going to stay in TSAB Academy for two years!" As when Alicia was done whispering to her sister, she started to drag Fate towards the door "Come on, onee-sama. Let's have a lunch together with the girls and Nanoha-oneesama."

Nanoha gawked at Fate who was standing beside Reinforce next to Alicia. Fate knew that the auburn-haired girl was gawking at her, she did her best not to look back at her.

"We missed you so much after all!" Eyes sparkling with joy Alicia took out her phone, looking on the screen she said "I already told Hayate-chan and Vita-chan. They were so excited to see you!" The younger blonde paused for a while and continued " They said, they were on their way here."

Not sure how she felt, Fate decided not to join them on their lunch break. Not ready to talk with Nanoha she pulled over her arms away from her sister and said "That would be cool, Alicia. As much as I love to eat lunch with you guys, I'm afraid I have to decline the offer."

"But, onee-sama!" Alicia tried to protest but Fate pinched her cheeks and said: "No but's young lady." Then the blonde walked towards Reinforce, who was trying to hide the disappointment in her face and spoke to her "It's nice to see you again, Rein." Without giving them a chance to respond, ignoring Nanoha she left their classroom left hand on her chest she told herself "I need more time to calm down and breathe before I face Nanoha."

================================**o0o**===================================

Not expecting to see the blonde with those tantalizing crimson eyes, Nanoha suddenly felt the familiar pain in her chest since their break up. Not able to think straight the whole morning until the lunch break, thinking about the person who was sitting next to her. Secretly glancing in her direction, wondering what the blonde was doing there at that moment. While Fate and Alicia were talking with each other after the class, the auburn-haired girl was secretly inspecting the blonde from head to toe, trying to measure her height. Seeing Fate grew taller than her, having a much leaner body and her face was more beautiful than ever her heart was pounding so hard. But what made her ponder was seeing the emptiness in her eyes that made her remember the first time that they had met.

"Nanoha-neesama, aren't you going to talk with Fate-oneesama?" Alicia asked worriedly, waving her hand in front of the auburn-haired girl's face as she was spacing out.

When Nanoha was about to respond to Alicia, Vita and Hayate entered their classroom standing in front of the door the brunette spoke loudly while her eyes were searching for someone, waving her right hand "Heyaa! We're here!"

"Yo! Where's Fate-senpai?" Eyebrows knitted, hands on her waist Vita asked. The three girls looked at each other and sighed defeatedly. "Are you girls playing a prank to us?" The shortest girl stared at Nanoha intensely as she was trying to apprehend if it was just a prank or not.

"Don't glare at me like that Vita-chan." Faking her smile, Nanoha responded to the short girl.

"Fate-san didn't want to eat with us." Reinforce butt in while gently stroking her neck and started to step outside the classroom. "She had left our classroom a while ago."

Nanoha sighed, feeling the displeasure she massage her forehead with her fingers, mumbling to herself "That idiot. Tsk, she did not even bother to greet me." Shaking her head she continued her grumbles "What should I expect from her?! The hell I care!"

"Nanoha-se-seeeenpaaai!" tilting her head in front of Nanoha's face, Hayate grinned while calling out her name that made the sapphire eyed girl jumped in surprise. "What were you grumbling to yourself?"

"Leave me alone, Hayate-chan." Looking at her grinning friend, Nanoha rolled her eyes.

"Ahhh, guys! Maybe we should start heading out to the cafeteria. I-i've been starving since morning you know." Reinforce nervously called their attention knowing that Nanoha seems to be not in the mood the way she responded to Hayate.

"You guys go ahead," Nanoha responded, stepping back towards her desk and took out her bento. "I'll be eating my lunch here, today."

While Nanoha was about to open her bento, Alicia rested her palms on her desk and spoke to her "Nanoha-neesama, you'll be coming in the gym later right? You'll gonna join the tennis club right?"

"I cannot say yes for now. But I will go and see how you guys have had improved." As when she was done speaking to Alicia, she smiled at the younger blonde and pinched her nose. With that gesture, she suddenly remembered Fate and the way she smiled happily at her whenever she does that.

Putting her hands on the sapphire-eyed girl's forehead Alicia asked worriedly "Nanoha-oneesama, are you okay? You're sweating cold."

Faking her smile she replied "I'm fine Alicia. Do not let it worry you."

"But, Nanoha-nee-"

"Hayate-chan." Glancing at the brunette, Nanoha made a gesture to take Alicia away. "Off you go, Alicia-chan." Disappointed with what Nanoha had said, the four girls left the classroom.

================================**o0o**===================================

Fate did not come back during the afternoon classes, leaving the auburn-haired girl wonder.

The whole afternoon, Nanoha could not stop thinking about the blonde, if she was able to eat her lunch properly knowing that Fate doesn't know how to take care of herself without the help of others. She knew that most of the time, the blonde will skip her breakfast, remembering the first time they had met when they were still in their first year of senior high after they were separated from each other. Still sitting on her desk, she decided to stand up and went her way to the tennis court. Alicia and Reinforce went ahead earlier and did not try to bother her while she was busy doodling on her notebook. "Oh well, it's not bad to go and check their improvements."

As when she was already outside the school building, not expecting that the temperature was a little bit colder than this morning she cursed herself not bringing something to keep her warm.

"It seems that you are feeling cold." Hearing the familiar gentle voice of the person who just spoke to her, Nanoha froze and turned her head to the direction where the voice came from to make sure her hunch was correct, staring at her wide-eyed. Confirming it was the blonde who spoke to her, she gasped her breath, heart pounding so hard as she saw that Fate was approaching her while untying her red scarf from her neck. She was wearing eyeglasses and a black jacket with a hood.

Standing in front of her, Fate placed the scarf on Nanoha's neck while looking at her face. Blushing a little on the gesture of the blonde, pressing her lips together she took a deep breath. The frigid air was keeping them at that moment while gazing at each other's eyes. "You must not forget to bring something to keep yourself warm during this season." Fate spoke gently. "Here's my scarf. Please use it today."

A flash of memory had resurfaced to Nanoha... It was during the winter time of their 2nd year in senior high. Deja Vu.

 _FLASHBACK_

" _Mou! Fate-chan, why didn't you bring your scarf with you!" Nanoha pinched Fate's nose while giggling, thinking that it would be a good chance to share her scarf with her girlfriend to make them feel much closer with each other which the auburn-haired girl really love. She was always cuddling at her blonde and everyone knew that she's a possessive girlfriend._

 _Fate was laughing at Nanoha's gesture, wrapping her arms around the sapphire-eyed girl's waist, then she kissed her cheek that made the auburn-haired girl blush. "Don't laugh at me Fate-chan! It's not funny." Trying to conceal her giggles Nanoha pretended to reprimand her blonde. "It's freaking cold right now! You'll end up getting colds!" Fate was about to kiss her cheek again when she covered her mouth and said "Not so fast, Fate-chan. Come on, we'll share with this." Nanoha placed her red scarf to Fate, wrapping around their necks._

 _Face flushed in red, Fate smiled happily, looking on Nanoha's hand and said "Aree? You didn't even wear your gloves, Nanoha." Fate removed her glove that she was wearing on her right hand and put it on Nanoha. "Give me your hand."_

 _Winking at the auburn-haired girl, she entwined her fingers with her girlfriend and put it in her pocket. "I'll hold your left hand so that you won't also feel cold."_

" _Sweet! My Fate-chan is so sweet today!" eyes gleaming Nanoha giggled and said_

" _Neh! Let's celebrate this day by taking a photograph!"_

" _Aree? We always take pictures Nanoha." Glancing at Nanoha, a raised questioning eyebrows form on her forehead._

 _Placing her right hand gently to the blonde's left cheek, meeting her gaze Nanoha spoke "I want to remember this day with you." pausing a little she continued "I'm the one who always kisses you first. So, today is really special to me."_

 _Hearing what the auburn-haired girl had said, Fate took Nanoha's hand and kissed it gently and said "I love you so much, Nanoha. Thank you for taking care of me all the time."_

 _Placing her forehead to Fate's, Nanoha responded "I love you too Fate-chan. I don't know what to do if I'll lose you." Nanoha sealed the distance between their lips, a chased kiss and yet both felt that it was the most fantastic, endearing and sensuous kissed that they have ever shared._

" _Hmmm, can we take the picture now, Fate-chan? Or do you want me to kiss you again?" winking at Fate, Nanoha teased her girlfriend._

 _Looking away from the auburn-haired girl, Fate took out her phone, pouting a little and said "Mou! Don't tease me Nanoha!"_

" _Niyahaha! Gomen! Gomen!" Nanoha shook with laughter. After a while, she wrapped her arms around her blonde's waist while resting her head on her shoulder and said: "Let's take the snapshot now, Fate-chan."_

 _After taking the beautiful snapshot, Nanoha took Fate's phone and said: "Let me borrow this, I'll just post this on Instagram." Amused by her girlfriend's action, the blonde smiled happy, wishing that their future days will always be like this._

 _ **End of Flashback**_

Seeing Nanoha staring at her, wondering what she was thinking Fate asked "Are you okay? You were spacing out."

Feeling the breath of Fate that was drawing on her face, realizing that their lips were just a few inches apart, eyes wide, face flushed in embarrassment, pushing away the blonde Nanoha spoke rapidly. "Ah- Y-yes! I'm fine! Thanks!"

Confused on what she's feeling, Nanoha started her dash towards the tennis court, doing her best to stay away from the blonde. As when she was already in front of the court, feeling stupid of what she had done, she reprimanded herself "You shouldn't have let your guard down, Nanoha!" Face flushing in red, heart pounding so hard, she continued to castigate herself "Damn! My feelings were betraying my mind!" Lips quivering, Nanoha wrapped her arms around herself, dragging her feet towards the entrance of the tennis court.

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	2. Chapter 2 Run Away

_**I do not own MGLN.**_

It was supposed to be a nice afternoon, but the encounter between Nanoha and Fate made another bad impression to the blonde. "What the hell was that?! She didn't even bother to say thanks. Tsk." The blonde gently scratched the back of her neck while gawking on the girl who was dashing away from her. "Nanoha, you never changed the way you handle your embarrassments."

The way that the auburn-haired girl acted towards Fate made her shoulders drooped in exhaustion while making a grimace of pain remembering the old times they were together. Only kami-sama know's how she loves Nanoha since the day she met her when they were still kids. It was only the sapphire-eyed girl who was able to make her feel like her existence from this world was needed and freed her on her box but now that they were no longer together made it more like she was breathing like a corpse. Deciding to forget about her current emotions, the blonde thought that she must start heading towards the court where the tennis team was doing their afternoon practice. _'Alright, time to go and see how the team has improved since last year.'_ Fate thought to herself, putting on the hood while dragging her feet towards the court.

When she arrived at her destination, she went her way inside the gym where she saw some tennis players who were having chit-chat's while others were doing their afternoon routine. She sat near the bench where the girls were having their conversations.

"Ne, Teana-san, what were you expecting for tomorrow's try out? Do you think there will be someone who's good enough to be part of regulars?" The browned-haired girl asked knowing that it was really hard to compete with the regulars from the team.

"Oh well, with my skills alone, it would be so hard for them to be part of the regulars, Shari." Hands on her hips, chest out the cadmium orange-haired girl responded with such pride thinking that she was the star of the team. Remembering how Alicia lost during the winter tournament, she frowned and said "Damn! If only Testarossa-senpai didn't shame herself during the last tournament! We could have get the grand slam title!" Hearing what Teana had said, some of the girls from the team caught her attention. "How could she lose her game! She was such a disgrace for the team!"

" _What a discourteous woman! How could she say that to my imouto!_ " Fate clenched her fist when she heard what the orange-haired girl had said.

Inspecting the surroundings Shari tried to reprimand the girl. She knew how the third years would react when someone from the team will make negative statements towards Alicia. "Teana-san, please try to lower your voice. The senpai's might hear you!"

"Don't be so cocky, Teana-san. We all know that it's hard to defeat Testarossa-senpai let alone the other senpai's." One of the second-years shook her head in disbelief of the arrogance of the orange-haired girl.

Raising her eyebrows on what she had heard, Teana stepped in in front of the girl who had just spoke, putting her hands on her shoulders she spoke "Oh, let's see. I'm going to secure my regular position for the next tournament by challenging Testarossa-senpai. I'll make sure she'll going to eat some dust."

Fate stood up from where she was sitting and thought to herself. ' _These girls didn't notice that I am here listening to their stupid conversation. I guess they weren't paying much attention to their surroundings._ '

Turning her neutral expression into scowl, the blonde tried to contain her annoyance by walking away from the group and tried to search for her imouto. But instead of finding Alicia, she saw the auburn-haired girl standing on the other side of the court and was engrossed in observing what the other players were doing. Fate decided to drag her feet towards the girl. While she was on her way, the blonde could not help herself but to examine the sapphire-eyed girl and wasn't so sure if she was doing the right thing gawking at the white devil.

Nanoha was so busy observing the players when someone from her back spoke to her, knowing it was Fate, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Why did you run away earlier, Nanoha?" The crimson-eyed girl stood beside her. Seeing the glum look on Nanoha's face, the blonde turned her gaze to other people from the court knowing that her presence was not welcomed, Fate smiled bitterly. When she did not receive a response from the girl next to her she continued to speak. "It's been a while, Nanoha." Not hearing a reply from the auburn-haired girl, Fate thought she should move away and search for Alicia. When she was about to turn her back from Nanoha, she heard a response in a sarcastic voice "Oh yes! It's been a year. I'm sure you have been well, Fate-chan! You also had gone taller! Sugoi!"

Not happy about Nanoha's answer, Fate rolled her eyes. She knew that the auburn-haired girl was avoiding to answer her question." She sighed knowing that it would be a bad idea to talk to her and said "Are you kidding me? How was my height related to my question earlier?"

Not wanting to crumble in front of the blonde, Nanoha spoke coldly. "I must go now. Please, excuse me." She knew that the blonde will not stop asking her questions until she gave her the answer that she needed. She firmly told herself that she must not associate with Fate anymore. She decided to turn her back away from the blonde, not giving her chance to react.

Watching the auburn-haired girl walking away from her, she ran her fingers on her hair in frustration, the way Nanoha acted towards her made her heart sank in abyss. Deep down she could not understand why she was suffering, asking herself if she really deserves it.

Sagging her back against the wall, eyes looking down, Fate didn't notice that Alicia was already standing beside her not until she spoke "Onee-sama, are you okay? What's with the long face?" The younger blonde knew it was so hard for her older sister to interact with the auburn-haired girl.

Not wanting to make her little sister worry, Fate faked a smile and said "I'm just a little tired Alicia."

Hearing what the older blonde said, Alicia looked at her straight on her eyes thinking 'Don't say that in front of my face when you are slumping your shoulders while showing me those sad eyes.'

Having no response from her imouto, seeing her worried she pinched her cheeks while saying "Don't make a face my dear little sister." Pausing a little, she continued "Oh, let me borrow your apartment keys. I really need to have a good rest."

Taking out the keys from her pocket, she sighed defeatedly "Hai. Here are the keys onee-sama." Fate smiled and took the keys from Alicia's hand. "Thanks! See you later, Alicia." Without giving the younger blonde a chance to respond, the older blonde left.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++o0o++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On their way to the court from the school cafeteria, Hayate and Vita were examining Rein's actions. Both girls knew why the white-haired girl was deep on her thoughts.

The white-haired girl was thinking about Fate. The amount of happiness that she was feeling was immeasurable while her heart was pounding so hard since she saw the taller blonde this morning. Busy on fantasizing the older blonde, Reinforce couldn't help herself but to smile radiantly.

"You look so happy today, Rein! I could clearly see the stars that glimmers from your eyes." The redhead girl spoke while sniggering to Reinforce. Hearing what Vita had said, the white-haired girl blushed like tomato.

"W-what are y-you talking about, Vita-chan!" Reinforce spoke rapidly.

"Ara ara… Vita-chan, we all know the reason behind Rein's idiotic smile." Hayate walked in front of the two girls then she continued "As you know, Fate-ch, Fate-senpai has returned!" the brunette chuckled while playing with her hair.

Doing her best not to give in with her friend's teased, Reinforce deadpanned and said "What the hell are you talking about?" Changing the topic, she asked "Where's Alicia by the way? I think we should hurry to the court now! Everyone is waiting!"

Nodding in disagreement Vita replied while raising her left brows "It doesn't matter if we're going to be late or not, team captain!"

"It won't hurt if we observe more discipline, Vita-chan. What will Takamachi-san and Fate-san think if we're being idlers? They were so strict back then." Reinforce reprimanded the short girl. "You know how Takamachi-san handles the training. We can't disappoint them."

"Yup! They will surely admire our laziness! Niyahaha!" Hayate made a jest while Reinforce glared at her.

"Niyahaha! Rein, don't be so serious! We have been doing well without those two. We'll be fine." Hayate spoke while tapping Vita's head. "Right? Vita-chan?!"

Face flushing in red, Vita respond "Arghh! Hayate! Don't pet me!" the brunette just laughed at her playfully.

The three girls continued stepping towards their destination when Reinforce stopped walking when she saw Nanoha, heading towards the parking lot, having an exasperated look on her face. But what made the silvery white-haired caught her attention was the red scarf that the auburn-haired girl was wearing. Reinforce doesn't want to think that Nanoha and Fate had already talked and settled things between them while saying in her thoughts 'Why is Takamachi-san wearing Fate-san's scarf?' She knew how those two had loved each other that made her heart bleed. Ofcourse, she never had wished for their break up even if she had feelings for Fate. 'There's no way they had already talked. Fate-san didn't attend the afternoon classes.'

"Was it Nanoha-chan? It seems she's in a hurry. I thought she's coming to the court." Hayate asked while pointing her finger towards the sight of the auburn-haired girl. "Ho ho! She's wearing a nice scarf. I wonder where she got it." The brunette took her phone and started composing a mail for Nanoha asking if she's fine and where she's going. She knew that her friend was in distressed meeting Fate today. She's about to send her the mail, deciding to confront her later, instead she sent a mail to Fate asking her whereabouts then she put back her phone on her pocket.

"Ahh! Do you think, the senpai's will join the club again? I've got the impression Nanoha-san doesn't want to acquaint herself with Fate-senpai." Vita asked while having deep thoughts about the two girls.

They knew that the two broke up but no one dared to ask the reason behind. Everyone from their circle were shocked when they heard the news and that it was so hard to destroy the relationship of NanoFate which a lot of students from their school admired at the same time envied. "After what happened, it would be so difficult for them to see each other every day."

Hearing what the short girl said, Reinforce felt anxious. The three of them was on their way near to the entrance of the court, they came across to the tall blonde that was having an exasperated look while composing a message on her mobile phone, sending a reply to Hayate. 'School. I'm on my way to the apartment'.

The silvery white-haired girl noticed that Fate was no longer using her scarf that she was wearing this morning.

"Yo! Fate-senpai! You're really here!" Grabbing ahold of the brunette, Vita rushed towards Fate happily followed by Rein. The crimson-eyed girl smile seeing her juniors.

Putting her finger in front of her lips she said "Shhhh! Vita, I know you were so excited to see me. But please, you don't have to call my name so loud." Then, she turned her attention to Hayate, patted her head and said "What's with that look, Hayate? Aren't you happy to see me?" The blonde knew that she needed to talk with Hayate soon. Sighing defeatedly, Fate continued to speak "Catch ya later guys! I have to go now." The blonde stood up in front of Reinforce, looking at her and said "I'll come tomorrow. I'll definitely keep my promise." When she was about to head off she paused and said "By the way, Alicia has been waiting for you inside." Then she walked away smiling while waving her hand.

The three girls received a mail from the auburn-haired girl.

"I will come tomorrow. Don't bother me tonight. I'll be staying at my room. I won't be eating either. Nanoha."

After their afternoon practice, the girls were on their way to the apartment where they have been living together, Alicia was holding at Hayate's arms walking behind Rein and Vita who were cheerfully chatting with each other. The younger blonde was lost in her own thoughts about Teana. She was getting to her nerves lately and she might start to do something about her yet she was hesitating because of Hayate. The brunette will never allow to do things that could harm others. The only thing why Teana Lanstar has been purposely disobeying her command, even as their vice-captain of the team was she lost her match during winter tournament that caused them the grand slam title. During the winter tournament, she was not on her best condition due to much stress and fatigue. Hayate was telling her not to play the match but her stubbornness had lead her to defeat.

Busy pondering on how to teach her junior a lesson, Hayate called out her attention while smiling at her. "Alicia-chan, we're almost at home. Seems that I lost you somewhere else. Would you like to tell me what you were thinking?"

Leaning her head on Hayate's shoulder, she smiled saying. "Ofcourse not, Ha~ya~te. I'll be lost without you though. We'll talk about this later, neh?"

"Well, yes. We can do that after dinner." Hayate replied without insisting what she wants. Even she was worried with Alicia, she can trust her when she said they will talk about it.

Arriving at their two-story house, they saw a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet Black Edition parking on the side was a white Mercedes-AMG GT roadster of Nanoha. "Aree? Who could be the owner of this Porsche?!" Hayate exclaimed.

Smiling at the thought that Fate might consider to stay with them just like before she answered the tanuki's inquiry. "It's oneesama's car, Hayate."

Scratching her head, could not believe what she had heard knowing that Fate was an underage Hayate grumbled "Damn! I felt so envious! I want to have one soon!"

Alicia poke her cheek and said "Mou, Ha~ya~te! Just be patient okay? You'll get yours I'm sure. You don't even have a driver's license yet." the blonde giggled.

"Ahhh! Gomen Alicia-chan, but I don't want to hear that from you!" Pouting a little to the blonde, she complained knowing that Alicia was a brat.

The blonde just laughed at her reaction, releasing Hayate's arms from her hold she said "Oneesama will be staying here tonight. She'll be sleeping in my room, she said need a proper rest since she didn't get enough sleep for the past two weeks."

"Ho ho! That means, you'll be sleeping in my room, Alicia-chan?" Hayate teased the blonde.

"Here you go again, Hayate." The short redhead girl facepalmed.

"Don't tease me Ha~ya~te, I might take it as an invitation." Alicia wrapped her arms around the brunnette's waist that made her blushed.

"Mou! Don't give in to her tease Alicia!" Rein glared at the tanuki.

Pretending not to know what they were talking about Hayate snickered "Niyahaha! Why do I have the feeling that you girls were thinking that I'm going to do something bad to Alicia-chan."

"Ahh! Coz you made it sound lewd! I know you, Hayate-chan! You were so popular back in Seishou!" the silvery white-haired girl took Alicia away from the tanuki.

"Shhh, Rein. Do not embarrass Hayate." Alicia stopped Reinforce before the two starts their argument. She knew that her best friend was just being protective to her.

Heading her steps on the stairs, she said "Let's have a talk after dinner, Hayate." then she went her way to her room.

Entering the room, Alicia saw her oneesama listening to music with her headphones on while reading something on her tablet. She sat beside Fate trying not to disturb her. Fate felt her presence, putting her tab on the table, she took off her headphones and coldly spoke to her imouto. "I didn't know she was here, staying with you. You didn't mention anything, Alicia." Releasing a heavy sigh, she looked at her imouto straight to her eyes she continued "I haven't seen her when I arrived here. Though, when I saw a car on the garage, I knew it was hers."

Alicia felt that something has changed about her sister. She became more distant and cold or more like she was hiding all the pain that she was feeling. Wanting to know what her sister wants, she asked her. "Oneesama, do you want to live with us again?"

"I was considering it, but I don't think Nanoha will be comfortable with me. So am I." Fate turn away her glance from her sister.

"Have you checked your room yet, oneesama? It was properly maintained." Alicia wanted to tell her that it was Nanoha cleaning her room every chance she could get but Alicia chose not to say anything. She even caught the sapphire-eyed girl slept on Fate's bed three nights ago. "We didn't move your stuffs, sometimes I stayed and sleep there when I'm missing you, oneesama."

Thinking that her room was just across Nanoha's, she didn't dare to and it would be hard for Fate to remember the memories of her bedroom where Nanoha used to barge in, in the middle of the night, telling her that she missed her already even they just separated few minutes ago. "Oh? Didn't I tell you to put away all the things there, Alicia?"

"I apologize if I didn't follow your instruction oneesama. We're graduating after this school year and will leave this house and go back to our respective houses." Alicia paused for a while "But this place, was like a home to me, with everyone here. Including you."

"I didn't expect that hearing from you, Alicia. I thought, you were just focused on Hayate. But I'm glad that you cherish all of our friends here." Tucking herself in on the bed, Fate closed her eyes. "You have changed, my imouto. You had grown mature in my absence."

 _"_ _No, it was you who had changed oneesama."_ Alicia wanted to tell her but kept it on her mind but instead she said. "I'll be sleeping in Hayate's room tonight, oneesama. So that you can rest well."

Hearing what her imouto said, she felt glad knowing that Hayate was looking after her sister she smiled happily teasing Alicia. "Control yourself, Alicia. Oyasumi."

For the first time since they had met today, Alicia finally saw her oneesama's genuine smile but her simple tease made her blush like tomato. She took a pillow and throw it on Fate. "Oneesama baka!"

"How dare you call me an idiot." Fate opened her eyes, glaring at her imouto and headed towards her. When she was already standing in front of Alicia, raising her right hand to slap her sister which made the younger blonde feared her covering her face but instead the older blonde tickled her side throwing her off on the bed.

Alicia could not help but laughed loudly, feeling silly of thinking that her oneesama will hurt her. "O-oneesama! S-stop! Hahaha!" Fate was on her top, tickling her side while her right hand cuffed both Alicia's wrists. When the younger blonde could no longer take it, Fate released her imouto and lie on her side laughing while Alicia was gasping her breath, she placed her arms on Fate's waist leaning her head on her shoulders and said "I miss you, oneesama. Okairi."

Staring at the ceiling, she smiled thinking that her sister will never abandon her she said. "Tadaima, Alicia. Arigato."


	3. Chapter 3 Dream

**_*Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN* /edited_**

 _She was sitting at the edge of the bench, her back was straight, with her arms relaxed and straight in front of the piano, playing her favorite piece "Love's Sorrow by Liebesleid" when she felt a hand on her back. A gentle voice spoke to her ear and said to her ear–_

 _"Fate-chan we need to talk." She turned around and smiled earnestly when she met the lovely gaze of those sapphire eyes but she continued playing the song. There was a warm feeling in her crimson eyes and was changed by a feeling of desolation, sorrow as she proceeded to the next movement._

 _The emotions of the musical notes flooded the room as she was gently gliding her fingers over the keys of the piano. She was appearing to dance and sway her body along the music as if she was in her own little world. But in reality, she was being consumed by the fear of separation from her beloved who has been her major support to get herself back to her feet._

 _In respect to Fate who does the same to her when she was playing her own music, Nanoha stood behind her back and waited for her to finish playing the piece. She had wondered why Fate was acting weird right after she went back from her grandmother's place and her gut told her that she must talk to her as soon as possible or it would be too late._

 _When Fate was done playing the music, she stood up and faced the person who tapped her back. She looked at her intensely straight to her sapphire eyes and said earnestly. "Come and sit beside me."_

 _When Nanoha saw those crimson eyes that were filled with love for her, longing and fear, she already knew that there was something wrong with Fate and she badly wants to know what was bothering her love, so she approached the blonde and sit beside her and waited for her to speak._

 _Fate lightly caressed her smooth and silky arms, tracing her skin up to her neck, she cupped her face and gently kissed her forehead which the blonde always did and spoke softly to her – "Yes, we need to talk Nanoha. There is something important that I must tell you. I want you to listen to me carefully and I wish that you would understand me." Nanoha nodded as a response, then she reached out to her to close the distance between their lips._

~N~F~

"Boom! Claaaaang!" A loud of a cracking noise from the downstairs woke her up from a tearful dream. She was not supposed to hear the noises from downstairs since her room was soundproofed but her doors were wide open.

Bewildered by what was happening, she jumped out from her bed and landed herself on the carpeted floor. She opened her eyes in tears, confused about everything she muttered to herself. "Ouch! What was that sound? It seems that it came from the kitchen!"

She placed her hand on her forehead when she remembered what she dreamed about the whole night. Fate has been occupying her mind since yesterday and it seems that she was not appreciating it. Her head throbbed and heart felt so heavy as she rose up from her fall. Still wondering on what happened to her she asked herself. "–What the hell is going on in the kitchen? If I'm not mistaken it was the sound of shattered plates!"

With that thought, she strode imperiously to where the sound came from. When she was about to enter the kitchen, her eyes widened in horror when she saw a tall figure near the kitchen sink who was trying to clean up the small pieces of broken plates and glasses. She was wearing a black free swing tennis bra and a black women's tennis skirt. Her long golden hair was tied in a ponytail which made her look alluring. The first thing that grabbed Nanoha's attention was a pair of sexy thighs. Unconsciously, her gaze wandered admiring those long, slender, soft, smooth and perfectly toned legs.

Nanoha's wondrous gazed at the pair of delectable leg of the blonde stopped when Fate felt a pair of eyes was feasting on her, she turned around to find out that it was the auburn-haired girl which made her heart skipped a beat.

Nanoha bit her lower lip when their eyes met. Her face was flushing in red, she felt so silly for being a little pervert just by seeing Fate's glorious body first thing in the morning, but she tried her best and summoned all the demons from hell to help her appeared composed in front of the blonde. Bewildered, both of them were not able to gather words from their mouths. No one averted their gaze from each other and only the demons know what they were thinking.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were still here. Did I disturb your sleep? Fate broke the silence when she saw that Nanoha was the first one to break their stares. "The girls already left for school." She spoke gently while she was picking up some shards. Her face looked apologetic, yet she was not smiling.

Nanoha snorted and massaged her forehead she mentally grumbled "Oh great! The whole night I was dreaming about Fate-chan and the first person that I got to see this morning was her! Why is she here anyway? And hell! She's oozing hot with her outfit!" Trying to destruct herself from her perverted thoughts, she checked on the clock and was surprised to see that it was already 7:30 am.

Since Nanoha wondered why Fate was there she asked her in a hoarse sleepy voice which the blonde found that it sounded so sexy in her ear. "W-w-what are you doing here Fate-chan?"

"Cleaning up some mess and ended up making more. You know I can't stand to see a pile of dishes in the sink. It's disgusting!" Fate answered innocently which made Nanoha arched a brow. Little she know, Fate was also fighting her own demons inside her that moment.

"Fate-chan baka! You really knew how to evade answering my questions." Nanoha did not respond to Fate but instead, she just muttered mentally which sent a negative thought to the blonde.

Fate tend to think overboard when it comes to Nanoha. The thought that her presence was unwanted by the girl who was standing in front of her was killing her, she spoke without pausing herself a little. "If you were asking why I am here now, don't worry I will be leaving today. I just came to have an overnight visit to my sister. I didn't know that you are staying with them. I didn't expect to see you at school and be my classmate either. I know my presence is giving you inconvenience, I will leave right away. Let me finish cleaning up this mess first." Her melancholic voice hit Nanoha down to the core and felt a knife burying in her chest. She was hurt to see that Fate turned her back from her and continued what she was doing. She wanted to embrace her and tell her that she was not unwanted but her pride was preventing her to do so. Instead, she started picking up the big shards with the fear of Fate might get hurt by the fact that the blonde, even after few years was still clumsy when it comes to doing chores. "No, let me finish cleaning up these!"

Sulking, Fate did not appreciate what Nanoha was doing, trying to help her. "She really wants me to leave her alone so bad huh?" She carefully grabbed Nanoha's wrist and tightened her hold and said. "I was the one who broke these, I must the one who's going to clean out this mess and not you Nanoha."

Nanoha froze up when she heard Fate spoke to her coldly, antagonizing her. She looked up to her and saw that her brows were knitted together and her eyes felt so distant. Nanoha started to get irritated, even that she was just being considerate and just offered her help, and yet she was just bluntly rejected. She tried to break free from her hold when she felt that Fate's grip become more tightened. "You're hurting my wrist! Let me go! What's wrong with you?!" Nanoha lashed out her irritation which made Fate realized that she unconsciously hurt the girl's wrist.

She drooped her head and stared blankly at the floor and spoke in a low voice. "I'm sorry."

Nanoha never expected that Fate will hurt her wrist. She was the gentlest person that she had known since they were kids. Even when they used t have a lot of misunderstandings and quarreled with each other a lot before, the girl was really patient with her and tried to resolve all their issues as soon as she calmed down herself. She couldn't blame Fate though, the girl was finally fed up on her stubbornness almost a year ago and it has hurt her a lot everyday single day.

Nanoha decided to go back to her room, she stood up and was about to stride her way when she heard a short cry from Fate. "Ouch! That hurts!"

Nanoha looked at Fate and saw that she accidentally cut her finger with a shard. She jumped on her and took her hand without having second thoughts to see how bad the cut was which made Fate slacked jaw. "Mou! You are clumsy as ever when it comes to this, Fate-chan!" Fate saw Nanoha's face that was showing a genuine concern and worries for her. "I told you that I should have cleaned the shards for you but you didn't listen!" She sighed exasperatedly and said, "I can't let you hurt your hand especially your fingers!"

Fate felt so warm with Nanoha's actions. She knew the girl so well and it gave her hope that there might still a chance that they can still recover what they had lost, but on the other hand, she was also aware that Nanoha was the one who threw her away for a stupid reason that even she couldn't even understand.

"Stay here. I'll go get the first aid kit." Fate heard Nanoha spoke, the girl started rummaging the kitchen cabinets to search for the item. When Nanoha finally found it, she held Fate and sat her on the kitchen chairs. The blonde didn't miss a second to stare longingly at Nanoha wishing that the girl will not stop holding her hand, that her warmth will never leave from her skin. The skinship made Fate blushed like a tomato and her body couldn't deny the fact she was enjoying it. She carefully observed every gesture of the worried girl in front of her after Nanoha looked up to her when she was done dressing the small wound.

When Nanoha realized that Fate was staring at her the whole time, and seeing her gentle expression on her crimson-colored cheek, her eyes widened and her whole body heated up in embarrassment. Nanoha felt that her stomach was turning upside down, being so close to Fate wasn't really good for her heart either since the girl was irresistible that made her heart pound so hard. It wasn't surprising that both genders were attracted to the blonde, who wouldn't be? Fate was a good catch; smart, beautiful, athletic and talented.

Nanoha jerked back from her seat when she finally realized what she had done, she felt so embarrassed and she stammered when she spoke "Neh? It's s-so-so h-hot in here! He, h-he, he-... It's spring but- O-oh.." She averted her eyes away from the stares of Fate and unintentionally looked down on her delectable thighs which made her blood rushed in her whole body.

"O-oh.. He-he! We're late.! I n-need to go in the bathroom!" Nanoha strode imperiously as fast as she could towards her room, leaving the blonde having a dumb look on her face.

When Nanoha entered her room, she slammed the door and leaned her back on it, feeling her raging heart she thought to herself. " _Her beautiful face… I thought to myself. What am I thinking?! What did I just do?! It was just a small cut and yet I freaked out! I shouldn't have done it! I have to stay away from her. I really don't like this feeling_." Remembering the dream that she had last night, she massaged her temples and said.

"Mou! I have to take a long shower to calm down!"

Fate was left dumbfounded as Nanoha was storming her way to her room. She blinked so many times and was taking some time to reassess on what just happened a while ago. She even slapped her face to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. The sting that came from her wound was real and made her think that Nanoha was still the same.

She smiled when she remembered the attire of Nanoha when she saw her standing behind her earlier. Nanoha was wearing her pajamas without her bra beneath, her auburn hair was tangled; her eyes was watery; it was obvious that she had just woken up that time. While Fate was busy gawking at her from head to toe, admiring her beauty, her body started to heat up.

" _She looks so lovely even with those messy hair and sleepy eyes. And those.." Fate_ shook her head and reprimanded herself.. " _No. I shouldn't be thinking about that. Fate you're not like that!" She_ sighed _._

" _She held my hand. She was concerned. She took care of me as usual. She was blushing. It was so awkward and yet why would she bother herself to me?" She_ looked up on the ceiling looking for an answer. " _Maybe, she was being her usual self. Kind as always and yet very cruel.."_ Fate settled with that answer and then she frowned. " _That's how it is Fate_. _Getting close to Nanoha is dangerous. My heart might have ended up being murdered her again… "_


	4. Chapter 4 Irritation

Fate— School 8:30am

I was already at the school's parking lot. I'm too lazy to get off from my car. My mind was somewhere out there thinking about a certain person.

"Where did all my energy go? I talked to myself." I leaned my head and arms on the steering wheel. It felt like I'm sick and had lost my vigor. I've been here for almost twenty minutes. I took out my phone when I've heard it ringing. It was Alicia-chan who's calling.

"Hello?" I answered in a hoarse voice.

"Did you just wake up neesama? I can't believe your tardiness! You used to arrive ahead of the scheduled time! We've already started!" Alicia was scolding me. I snickered as I realized what my little sister was saying.

"Mou! Neesama!" Alicia exclaimed over the phone.

"I can't believe that I am being scolded by my little sister for being late." -I said.

As when I finished saying those words, this time I laughed and when I calmed down I spoke again.

"I'm sorry Alicia-chan. I'm already here at school. I'm on my way to the court. See you."

I didn't wait for her response and turned off the call. I smiled and imagine how Alicia-chan has matured in just a short period of time. I'm sure the others have grown too. I hope I was not wrong when I chose Rein to be the captain of the team when I left. I was deep in my thoughts when someone knocked on my window frame of my car. I was surprised to see who it was. It was Nanoha! I straightened up my body. I didn't notice that she had already parked her car next to mine. She had an inquisitive look on her face.

"Are you going to stay there for good? I'm sure you've left the house ages ago and yet you're still here." She raised her eyebrows.

I looked at her appearance. She was wearing all white. From her sports jacket down to her tennis shoes. She was also wearing some sports leggings. She looks sexy in her outfit.

"Hey! You're spacing out! Try to answer when someone is asking you a question." Nanoha reprimanded me with a raucous voice. I can see her annoyed expression on her face. She turned away from me and started walking towards the court.

 _Maybe I should walk with her._ I grinned. _I'll think about the consequence of what I'm going to feel later_. I said to myself.

"Nanoha, Can I walk with you?" I said to her.

"It doesn't matter Fate-chan. We're both going to the same direction anyway." She answered.

There were few student's in our school that morning. Some were from the soccer team and baseball team. As we pass through them, everyone was looking at us. I felt awkward. I really don't like attention from other people. I looked at the person next to me to see her reaction but it seems she didn't mind. I'm amazed on how confident she carries herself. I thought to myself.

Then, there were four boys rudely approached to us.

"Hey—gorgeous ladies!" Said by one of the boys.

We tried to ignore them but they were so persistent.

"Nice clothes! Do you want us to accompany you?" The other one grinned and touched Nanoha's butt.

The copperhead has stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. "Let's just ignore them and keep walking." I added.

Her face was red in anger. Without saying any word, she gave the guy who touched her butt a roundhouse kick on the face. Then she stepped on his hand three times. The other one tried to pull the copperhead but I manage to kicked him. The other one tried to attack me with his fist but I manage to redirect his attack and I throw him to the bench. He was off balanced and hit the ground.

On the other side, I saw the copper head formed her hands as if she was gripping an imaginary tennis balls and lunched herself to the guy. She dug her fingers into the bicep of the swinging arm of and she ripped the muscle, while striking the forearm on the same side. I know what might happen next so I tried to come close to her as fast as I could to stop her attack. I've hastily lunched myself at her and took the advantage of the force that she was about to lunch. I gripped her wrist and throw her off to the ground. When she was about to stand up I locked her arms with my hands. We were in a crouching position. I was on her back. She was furious.

"I know what you're about to do." I said to her. She was resisting.

"Nanoha, please calm down! You have already crushed the other guys hand. We will be in trouble!"

Nanoha stopped and didn't resist after hearing what I just said. But, she was breathing so hard, I can feel her heart rate was irregular. She was sweating all over her body. There was a small scratch on her red face. I have never seen her eyes that was full of disgust.

Completely shocked and overwhelmed by the ferocity of the attack of the copperhead, the boys ran for their lives.

 _Poor boys. I'm sure they were younger than us but was beaten into pulp. I hope the injuries weren't that serious._ I said to myself.

I made a grimace when I recall what Nanoha had done to the guy who touched her butt. _I was hoping that we will not be getting any inconvenience with the fighting that we had done just now inside the school premises! And now, I'm worried._

After the few moments, when the boys are no longer on our sight, the copperhead was trying her best to regain her normal breathing. I released her hand and wrapped my arms around her waist from her back. I leaned my head on her. Her legs were already resting on the ground.

 _She smells so good_. I thought to myself.

Her natural smell is subtle, warm mixed with sweet and flowery fragrance due to her perfume. _She smells sexy and irresistible!_ My heart was throbbing with those thoughts.

 _I'm sure she can hear my heartbeat! She can hear it! She can hear it!_ I rebuked myself silently. _We have to get up!_

I released the copperhead from my embraced as soon as I noticed that she was breathing normally. I stood up in front of her. I reached out my hand to help her stand. She looked at my hand and took it silently. I pulled her to the nearest bench and made her sit.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

I hope my concerns are not showing on my face. You have to fix your hair. It's tangled. She sighed and fixed her hair silently. I was just staring at her. After she fixed her hair, I spoke again.

"You need a drink. Here, take these." I offered her my water bottled to Nanoha.

Thanks! She said. Then she drank the water all the way down. I looked around. The sun was shining brightly. The air was cool. The smells of the flowers from the trees was so refreshing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

 _I bet this day will be a very long tiring day._ I smiled half-heartedly as I thought to myself.

I was so busy contemplating with the surroundings when I heard the copperhead spoke to me.

"How can you stopped and throw me off without hurting me?" I opened my eyes and look at her. Our gazed met. Her face was serious and the tone of the copperhead's voice was earnest.

I sighed in dismay. "How can you have snapped like that? You used to have a better temperament than me." I stopped speaking for a moment waiting for her answer.

I received no response from her, so I continued.

"You already knew the answer to your question, Nanoha. Please, refrain from injuring your precious hands too." I was looking at her with a distressed face.

"I'll go ahead first." Then I started walking towards the court. I didn't even give a fuss to wait for her answer. I didn't bother to look at her reaction.

 _I hope that you really knew the answer, Nanoha. I just realized now, when I held you in my arms again, when my body was touching yours feeling your warmth, smelling your natural scent that no matter what you do, I will always love and protect you. Even if it will cost me a lot._ I smiled bitterly about the thought.

 **Hmm, to those who were asking about what happened between Fate and Nanoha, I'll write it soon. Thank you so much guys! See you!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own MGLN.**

 **Alicia POV**

It was already 8:00AM when we finished all the stretching's and warm up exercises. Vita-chan and Hayate-chan gathered everyone, including the first years who joined today's try-out inside the covered court. Hayate-chan was giving an orientation about the indoor and outdoor facilities of the tennis court. She was smiling all the time and those smiles has captivated the hearts of every first years that was present at that time. It made them feel at ease. Hayate-chan always offers a jovial mood in all circumstances. We can't deny the fact that despite of her pleasant yet mischievous attitude, she's one of the most reliable person in our team. She'd been also becoming the best mx doubles player in our team together with Vice-kun since the time when Amy-neesama and Chrono-san has graduated. It was also a shame for everyone that we haven't seen Amy-neesama and Griffith-san in action since he had graduated first. Amy Lowran and Griffith Lowran tandem used to be the best in the National Mx Doubles high school division. They were siblings. And Chrono Harlaown and Fate-neesama was their cousin.

Hayate-chan never had any interest in playing singles or with the women's doubles. She was trained by Amy-neesama while Vice-kun was trained by Chrono-san. Although, Fate-neesama forced her to play singles and doubles to play against the other school players during the camp. Thanks to the lottery system that always randomly decides the match ups that my wonderful sister has created. She couldn't say no to neesama. Everyone couldn't break the rules of my neesama when she was still our captain, not even me or Nanoha-neesama.

Everyone was listening intently to Hayate-chan including the old members except for a certain person. Teana Lanstar. She was busy playing with her phone. Beside her was her friend, Shari. Who does everything as she says. Hayate-chan had not been bothered by the stupid actions caused by the other people as long as there's no harm done to everyone. Basically, she doesn't give a damn about Teana's action during the orientation.

After the short orientation that was conducted by Hayate-chan, Vita-chan took over the stage to explain the markings of the tennis court. From the baseline, single's sideline, double's sideline, net, centre service line, service box, service line, double's tramline and finally, the baseline centre mark. She also covered explaining the rules and regulation of the game. The irritated looked on her face that cannot be denied was visible. Her eyebrows were knitted together. Her usual blue eyes became much darker. She was glaring to everyone. Her arms are crossed across her chest that made her look defensive and unfriendly.

Vita-chan was the smallest girl and yet she's one of the best single's player in the team. She used to be full of herself when she had just joined the team and refused to follow the rules. She was excessively conceited and selfish due to her championship title during middle school until Fate-neesama beat her to pulp with the three sets of scores of three-love in favour of neesama. I could still remember the discomfited and distress look on her face that time.

To win a set, you must win at least six games. The games are scored starting at "love" (or zero) and go up to 40, but that's actually just four points. From love, the first point is 15, then 30, then 40, then game point, which wins the game.

When Vita-chan had decided to follow the rules of the team and the leadership of our team captain, neesama personally trained her together with Rein-chan. Rein-chan and Vita-chan used to fight a lot before even just with small complications. It was hard for Vita-chan at first until such time that she had gradually shown her soft side to us especially to Fate-neesama and Nanoha-neesama, but never to others. Then she became their favourite. Vita-chan and Hayate became closer with each other as the days goes by since they were classmate.

Ask for me, I had trained with Nanoha-neesama and it wasn't unchallenging. She was the most uncompromising person in the team when it comes to training and instructions. Her coaching was very rigid and inflexible. Not that I say that she was better than neesama but I could conclude that her teaching skills was superb among the Seniors. Even Amy-neesama admired her so much. There was a time that I almost gave up but the good thing was, I didn't. The thing that I really liked during my training with her was she always let me eat the food that she had cooked for us. Especially her mouth-watering baked cakes!

Vita-chan had finished briefing the newbies. Rein-chan made a gesture for the three of us to go outside the court. The four of us headed towards the exit without voicing out a single word. I saw that there was an uneasiness that was visible on Rein-chan's face. I was wondering what was the cause of it then she spoke -

"Girls, it's already 8:30am, Takamachi-san and Fate-san is still not here. I wonder if they are coming or not? Have they sent you a mail for a confirmation? I need to know so that we can proceed." Vita-chan and Hayate-chan looked at each other with a mischievous smile on their faces.

"I haven't received any replies since this morning. Let me call neesama. Please, give me a moment. And you guys should try to give Nanoha-neesama a ring." I said to them.

I started dialing neesama's phone, it rang for a long time. _T_

 _he number that you are calling is now unattended, please try to call later. –_ I've heard the voice of the operator. I dialed again, on the 6th ring I've heard a familiar voice on the other side.

 _"Hello?"_ I frowned when I heard the hoarse voice of the person that I was calling.

"Did you just wake up neesama? I can't believe your tardiness! You used to arrive ahead of the scheduled time! We've already started!" I recklessly shouted at her over the phone.

The three girls gave me an inconceivable look on their faces. I started to panicked when I realized my actions. I scolded her without thinking! I winced. There was a long silence on the other line. Oh no! I need to apologize for yelling at neesama! -I thought to myself. Then suddenly I heard a snickering laugh on the other side.

 _Neesama was laughing?_ I said to myself. There was a sigh of relieved on my part when I heard her snickered.

"Mou! Neesama!" I exclaimed.

"I can't believe that I am being scolded by my little sister for being late." -neesama said.

As when she finished saying those words, I've heard another laugh. It took time before she calmed down and spoke again.

"I'm sorry Alicia-chan. I'm already here at school. I'm on my way to the court. See you." She ended the call without waiting for my response.

I sigh and put back my phone on my pocket. Just when I was about to speak, I heard Hayate-chan's spoke to Rein-chan.

"Araa-ara Eins. What's that unsettled look on your face?" She was punning over her while her fingers were resting on her chin. She was wearing a wide grin and naughty look on her eyes.

"W-what are you t-talking about Hayate-chan!? Your face looks so scary." Rein-chan responded. She was uneasy. She was rubbing her hands behind her back. She was always childish when caught off guard.

"Let me read your mind, Eins.. Hmmm.. I was thinking about where are they and what they're "doing" right now?" She giggled happily.

Then I saw Hayate-chan headed towards Rein-chan, she stood beside her and whispered something in her ear. At first, she had a bawdy look then her face became serious. I didn't hear what she'd said to Rein-chan but, I saw how her reaction change. Her body tensed up and pushed Hayate-chan.

"Ha! Ha! I'm sorry, Eins! Don't be so harsh!" She sticks out her tongue while her left eye was closed.

"Oh! Hayate-chan, please give Rein-chan a break." I reprimanded her. She just chuckled. "You're always making fun of Rein-chan. Let her off for now, okay?" I smiled.

"Alicia, what did Fate-san said? Takamachi-san wasn't picking up her phone." Alicia asked while ignoring Hayate-chan.

I stretched out my hand upwards and smiled. "She's already here at school. She's on her way now. Should we wait for her?"

Alicia paused for a while then she said –

"Maybe we should wait for her. Let's have a short break." She looked at Vita-chan and said –

"Vita-chan, if you don't mind, kindly go and advise the girls that we are taking a short break. Then we will resume in a short while." Vita-chan nodded and headed towards the court.

"I guess, I'll go with her. – Hayate. "Wait up, Vita-chan!" The two vanished from our sight.

"Neh- Rein-chan, let's sit on that bench and wait there for neesama." I dragged her happily. Rein-chan just gave me a loud silly laugh.

 **There you go. I'm starting to reveal the details one by one. Please, bear with me.**

 **Thank you so much to** **rijaja.77 for giving me a heartwarming encouragement.**

 **See you!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own MSLN**

 **I'm sorry for the late update. I was so busy at my job. Thanks for the views guys! Feedback will be appreciated! Thanks!**

 **Rein POV**

 ***Flashback**

It was during a summer vacation when Fate-san and Alicia-chan went back to their grandparent's home. Fate-san and Takamachi-san was on their sophomore year and Alicia-chan and I together with Hayate-chan and Vita-chan are first years.

For some reasons, the Testarossa sisters were called out by their grandmother whose name that they never mentioned. The two were not around during our summer practice for almost three weeks. It was Takamachi-san and Lowran Amy-san who took over the training for the team during the absence of Fate-san. Alicia-chan went back three days and Fate-san went back the day before the training camp that was requested by the tennis players from Tokyo. The Ru Lushe High. The home of the tennis powerhouse players high school division.

It was that time on the second night of the joint camp when I made a terrible conflict with Takamachi-san. A conflict that I will never forget…

 _ **3rd year Middle School**_

Since I became friends with Alicia-chan during middle school, I never heard or knew about her family background. All I knew that she was a transfer student from England. But, her Japanese skills both in speaking and writing was surprisingly superb. Until such time that Fate-san went to our school for a surprised visit to Alicia-chan.

That moment, it was the first time that I have met someone from Alicia-chan's family. A sister that she never had mentioned before. Every time I asked her about her family, she will change the topic.

At first, I didn't realize that Alicia-chan's sister was Takamachi-san's doubles partner, Fate Testarossa. They were the reigning champion for the women's tennis doubles high school division that year, I only recognize Fate-san when Alicia-chan introduced her to me. I should have seen their resemblance with each other. Alicia-chan looks like a younger version of Fate-san. Although, Fate-san is much taller than her. In fairness to Fate-san, her beauty was more alluring and she's definitely drop dead gorgeous that could make everyone's heart beats fast that could make them feel short of breath. While Alicia-chan possess an exquisite beauty like a princess. The first thing that I noticed to Fate-san was her beautiful crimson eyes, but behind those eyes was an unfathomable emptiness. Her crimson eyes were more deep and expressive than Alicia-chan.

Before, I only knew Fate-san's name that I have seen and read on the sports magazine together with Takamachi-san, but I didn't know that she was Alicia-chan's older sister. She never told me about Fate-san even though I'm her best friend. At that time, for me I was the number one fan of Takamachi-san to the point that I dislike Fate-san without knowing her first. For me, Takamachi-san was the key to their victory. A lot of tennis players from our team was were arguing who's more beautiful and skilled between the two. They were so popular because of their looks.

Takamachi-san beauty was no joke. She's a head turner, someone that catches the eye, the looks whom causes people to look much. Any person will drool over her. She has those pair of enchanting lavender eyes that will make any person's heart melt.

Back then, Fate-san stayed with us for three days and helped us with our tennis training for the upcoming winter tournament that year. Our teammates were so happy to have her with us. The time that Fate-san has spent with us was really pleasant. She was so gentle and nice. She was also generous enough to treat all of us from the team after our training. She wasn't so stiff and rigid when it comes to training, but the way she encourages us to do our best to defeat our opponents while enjoying the game was really encouraging. I was the team captain of the team, and I was really thankful to her assistance.

Fate-san really loves Alicia-chan and acts as a loving big sister even in front of every one. She was treating me so well too like her little sister and pats my head when I am making a face. I clearly saw the sisterly love between the Testarossa sisters but at the same time, they treated each other with a great unusual respect. At that juncture, I started to change my impression towards Fate-san. All those times, I was wrong with all my negative thoughts about her. I was too focus on admiring Takamachi-san.

On the third day, Takamachi-san went to our school so early in the morning to fetch Fate-san for some reason. I was on my way to the tennis court when I saw Takamachi-san. I was so excited to see her that my blood was gushing all over my body. But to my horrible surprised, I saw how Takamachi-san greeted Fate-san with a powerful slap on her face. My eyes had opened wide together with my mouth without making a sound. I was so shocked!

 _Whaaaaack!_ A loud noise was heard that came from the sound of slap. But, Fate-san didn't even flinch or said anything. Takamachi-san has a sullen look on her face. I felt so pity for Fate-san. Takamachi-san was harsh to her. At the same time, I was also wondering why they were in bad terms. We have read from the magazine that both of them were best of friends!

I didn't know what to do, I felt so nervous and without thinking instead of going back to where I came from, I hid on the bushes. I held my breath, afraid of being heard by the two-people clashing together.

"How can you just run away like that, Fate-chan? You're putting me in a terrible situation!" Takamachi-san said with an angry voice.

"We have to go now! We don't much time to stand here idly!" She grabbed Fate-san's wrist forcefully. But, Fate-san shrugged her off.

"What do you want Takamachi?" Her voice was hoarse.

I saw Takamachi-san's reaction when she heard how Fate-san addressed her name. There was a surprised and disappointed look on her face. She raised her eyebrows.

"And now you're just addressing me as Takamachi now?" – her voice was resentful.

"Have you forgotten about what you did on the music club room? I know that you were avoiding me, I was avoiding you too but can't you try to be more discreet in front of everyone? What have I done to you to deserve it? I used to think that we're good friends. I wouldn't be on the music club that day if your club adviser didn't beg me to compete with you for the Two Piano Competition. I never liked competitions as much as you do. I just do what makes me feel at ease." Fate-san voice was broken, shaky and quiet. Full of sadness. I couldn't see her reaction, I can only see the view of her back.

"You don't have the right to sound resentful the way you speak to me, Nanoha."

"Look, Fate-chan, Yamamoto-sensei has been making my life a living hell since you left that damn club room! We only have few weeks for the competition and we never have had been started practicing!" - Takamachi-san replied.

You are such a brat, Nanoha. Always dragging me around to the competitions. Just leave me alone for now, please. Fate-san said in a calm cold voice.

Takamachi-san didn't respond to what Fate-san has said. There was a minute of silence.

The Two Piano Competition gave a rang to my head.

 _What's wrong with this two? Why are they fighting? And on top of that who the hell are these people? How can they be so excellent and competitive in tennis and yet they could still manage to compete with other kinds of competition. Two Piano Competition is no joke! It requires a high skilled level piano player. At least those who passed the grade 7 exams are eligible to join for the said competition._

 _Crrrrunchhh!_ I was lost on that thought when I accidentally stepped on a small dried branch that made a crispy crunch sound.

It was just a faint sound but at that time, I saw Fate-san turned around and looked at on the direction where I was hiding. She sure to have a very sharp ear. I stopped breathing, I was hoping that she didn't noticed me or heard the cracking sound of that damned branch. Few seconds later, she turned her gazed towards Takamachi-san, as she came closer to her and wrapped her hand around her waist. Fate-san was whispering something on Takamachi-san's ear. I couldn't hear anything about what she was saying to Takamachi-san and miraculously the raging storm between them have calmed down. They walked towards the court hand in hand without saying a word.

 _What heck was that?! How the hell I ended up seeing that unpleasant situation!_ I thought to myself.

Confused on what just happened, I brushed my hair with my fingers in a frustrated manner.

That day, Takamachi-san lend us a hand during our training sessions that day. Both of them acted in front of us as if nothing bad had happened that morning. Also, Alicia-chan insisted that Takamachi-san should stay overnight with us. She knew that Takamachi-san will not go back to without Fate-san. That night, the four of us slept together. Alicia was so delighted with Takamachi-san that she was already calling her Nanoha-neesama. I was also happy that my idol, Takamachi-san was spending time with us.

We only have a double-deck bed in our room, what was the most awkward moment that happened in my life when Fate-san suddenly climbed on to my bed to sleep!

"What are you doing Fate-san?" I asked her.

"Why?" She responded me with a question too.

"Why? Aren't you supposed to sleep on Alicia-chan's bed with Nanoha-san?" I pouted.

Fate-san gave me a Mona Lisa smiled which confused me then she spoke,

"No, Nanoha will be sleeping in Alicia-chan's bed with her. They couldn't stop chatting. It's fine, if I'm not welcome here. I'll just sleep on the couch. Please, let me borrow this small pillow and this blanket." She turned her back and was about to leave the bed, I reached out to her wrist.

"W-wait! I didn't say that you weren't welcome here. I-I -w-was just surprised you know.." I scratched the back of my head. _You can sleep here._ I added.

 _What the hell! Why am I panicking?!_ I thought to myself.

"Thank you, Rein-chan." She replied with a smile.

Then, Fate-san approached me and lean over to reach my ear.

"Also, thank you for not telling Alicia-chan about what you had saw this morning. I don't want her to be anxious about it. She will surely make a fuss." She whispered in my ear. I could feel her soft breath in my ear.

"W-what?! W-what are you talking about F-fate-san?!" I panicked.

 _Oh my god! I was found out! She knew I was there eavesdropping to their conversation! I'm dead!_ I thought to myself.

Fate-san covered my mouth gently with her fingers. Her crimson eyes were looking straight to my eyes. For me it was intense that I didn't know what to do. My heart was pounding so hard. I couldn't breathe. My face heats up with her actions. Then she spoke again in a whispering manner. Her gaze was locked in my eyes.

"Shhh! Calm down, Rein-chan. Listen. You're not in trouble. I am not angry because you were eavesdropping. It wasn't your fault to see that nasty situation. It just happened that you were in a wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't notice you at first not until I heard the faint sound of that branch." Her voice was so gentle.

"How did you know it was me? It could be a cat or a mouse. It was just a faint sound; how can you hear it so clearly?" I asked her curiously.

"Because, Alicia-chan asked me to come and get you. Asked for me hearing the faint sound of that branch, that would be a secret." She winked at me. Fate-san looks so adorable. Then, her face become serious again.

"Please, don't tell Alicia-chan. Nanoha doesn't know you were there either. It's really important to me." She said.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping, Fate-san. I didn't mean to listen to your conversation with Takamachi-san. And yes, I will not tell Alicia-chan about it." I replied.

"Thank you." She smiled and patted my head.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to sleep now. Good night, Rein-chan. I would really appreciate it if you would do it."Then she started lying on the bed and closed her eyes.

I sighed. "Good night, Fate-san."

I was not able to sleep that night. I was freaking out because of the presence of the person who was sleeping next to me. There were times that I wanted to caress her sleeping face. But I cease the urge to do it. There was an unfamiliar feeling inside that was awakened by Fate-san. I fell in love with her at that moment.

I made a resolve to confess my feelings to Fate-san in the future without knowing what was the real score between her and Takamachi-senpai.

 **End of Flashback..**

"Neh, Rein-chan! It's Fate-neesama! Look!" Alicia-chan exclaimed.

I look towards the place where Alicia-chan was waving her hands. I saw Fate-san waved her hand in response to Alicia-chan then she jogs towards us.

"Finally, she's here." I smiled happily.

 **I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter guys! See you!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN. I am just writing for fun.  
**

 **Fate—**

"Fate-neesama! Finally, you're here! What took you so long?" Alicia-chan giggled and hugged me tightly.

I smiled and looked at Alicia-chan and Rein-chan then

"I spoke, Good morning Alicia-chan, Rein-chan"

"Good morning Fate-san. Were glad you made it." Alicia-chan reponded and smiled formally.

"Oh, yes. Aah-hh, I'm sorry if I was late girls. But you shouldn't have worried. You know that I always keep my words." I patted Rein-chan's head then I turned my attention to Alicia-chan.

"Neh- Alicia- "oneechan""… I grinned.

"Yes, Fate-neesama? Wait!" her mouth hung with her lips slightly parted and her eyes were as wide as they could stretch…

"O-oneechan?! W-why are you calling me oneechan, Fate-neesama!?" Alicia-chan was mugging her face. She doesn't like to be called "oneechan". She always acts like a toddler when it comes to this. I smiled.

"Ara—"Oneechan", Both of my hands were touching Alicia-chan's face. You had scolded me earlier for being late right, "Oneechan?".. I started pinching both sides of her face.

"I-eerrmm – s—so- -s-orreeeee. Fate-neeshaaama!" -Alicia-chan said while she was trying to escape from my loving discipline. I let go of her.

"Mou! Fate-neesama! How can you hurt my pretty-face?"

"Who said your face is pretty? Nyahaha." I laughed mischievously.

"Neh-Rein-chan, who said Alicia-chan has a pretty face?" I winked at Rein-chan.

"I never heard about it Fate-san." Alicia-chan played along. She was trying to hold her laughter. She knew that Alicia-chan doesn't like being make sport of.

"Oh, you didn't know Fate-neesama? I am so popular in this school! Not only here but also outside the school!" Alicia-chan stood up straight with her chest out and chin-up. Alicia-chan will only show her conceited side in front of me and her close friends.

"Indeed, "oneechan!". "I pinched Alicia-chan's nose playfully.

"I've heard that you were popular because our tennis club is popular, right? How can you be so conceited Alicia-chan? Tsk! Tsk! I didn't teach you to be a swagger." I was keeping a straight faced when I spoke to her. Alicia-chan was always bad catching up with the jest. Her face was starting to turn red.

We were so busy fooling around with each other that we never noticed the person that was standing behind our back. It was Nanoha. I gawked at her. She was holding the water bottled water that I had lent to her earlier. Our gazed meet and she gave me a cheesed off stare.

 _Oh, She's in a predatory mood. I understood what happened earlier was really bad but I don't know why she seems to be so scary today._ I thought to myself.

"Nanoha-neesama! Please, save me from these wicked people!" Alicia-chan run towards Nanoha.

"These two were bullying me, they said that I'm ugly!"

"Hey! Alicia-chan, stop making stories! No one called you ugly!" Rein-chan exclaimed.

Alicia-chan was hiding behind Nanoha's back. Nanoha always softened every time Alicia-chan approached her. She hugged her and assured her she was not her enemy. She stroked Alicia-chan's hair and said.

"Don't worry Alicia. You are always pretty. They're just making fun of you. Nothing good will happen if you will let them make fun of you." Nanoha was smiling and petting Alicia-chan's head so dearly! She's always gentle with Alicia-chan and Vita. Tsktsk!

"Thank you! Nanoha-neesama! You're a lifesaver!" Alicia-chan goggled her eyes to both Rein-chan and me while she was sticking out her tongue with a look saying "I'm Nanoha-neesama's pet. Don't mess with me or the White Devil will devour you!"

"Takamachi-san, I'm glad you came. But, I wonder what happened to you? You've some dirt in your leggings and jacket. Did you fell off somewhere?" Rein-chan asked while she was doing her visual inspection in Nanoha's clothes.

"Ara—Nanoha-neesama, you have a scratch on your face. Are you okay?" Alicia-chan asked worriedly.

"Oh, don't mind this Rein-chan, Alicia-chan something came up along the way. I'll just tell you the details later. Anyway, I apologize for arriving late. Did I keep you waiting?" Nanoha evaded the questions.

I was just observing the exchange in conversation between the three of them. I couldn't stop myself looking at Nanoha. How I've long to see her beautiful face, to hear her voice, to feel her in my arms. But the thoughts of it is terrifying.

"Hmm, actually Nanoha-neesama, we have been trying to contact you in your phone earlier. But, you were not picking it up. You didn't respond to our mails either. But, it doesn't matter now. You are here and we are just too happy that you came! Both of you and neesama came!" Nanoha looked at me in a jiffy manner.

"I'm sure Vita-chan and Hayate-chan will be delighted!" Alicia-chan hugged her happily. I felt so envy with Alicia-chan, she can hug Nanoha anytime.

"I'm really sorry girls." Nanoha laugh stupidly with her left hand in her head.

"Anyway, Takamachi-san, Alicia-chan, I hate to cut this but we have to start moving ourselves inside the gym. The girls have been waiting. They didn't know the reason why we delay our try-out a little. We're supposed to be starting by now." Rein-chan explained.

"Wait, Rein-chan, I haven't started with the warm-up exercises yet. Perhaps, you girls should go inside first and start the try out. The team captain and the vice-captain doesn't need to wait for me." Pushing them away to go inside the court.

Rein-chan smiled sweetly. "You can do the warm-ups and stretching inside the court Fate-san. It's a little bit chilly here."

When I was about to respond to Rein-chan Alicia-chan spoke.

"How about you Nanoha-neesama? Are you done with the warm-up exercises?" Alicia inquired.

"Naah! I planned to do it inside the court. I'll just do a little stretching then I'll be fine." Nanoha replied to Alicia-chan's question.

"Well then, you can partner with Fate-neesama, Nanoha-neesama. You need a stretching partner, right? Since, the both of you are not yet done with the warm-up and stretching exercise." Alicia-chan has a sly smile on her face.

My body tensed up when I heard what Alicia-chan just said. But, my body also feels excited. I felt so stupid that I covered my mouth unconsciously and looked away. Alicia-chan was trying to set us up.

"Alicia-chan! Try to be more considerate!" Rein-chan scolded Alicia-chan. She sounded like she was in panic.

"Fate-san, if you like, I-i -c-can assist you with your stretching. Alicia-chan could assist Takamachi-san, right Alicia-chan?"

I saw Nanoha raised her left eyebrow when she heard what Rein-chan has said then she spoke.

"Rein-chan, Alicia, you don't have to bother yourselves with us. I think, we can manage to do the warm-up exercises without your assistance. You had waited for us, we're already late. I cannot allow you to show a special treatment for us in front of the new recruits. I'll do what you've suggested Alicia if Fate-chan is okay with it." Nanoha spoke with a deep-toned voice. Her face was serious.

 _She's back in predator mode._ I was surprised on what I had just heard by now coming from Nanoha.

I covered my mouth with my right hand and tried to resist the smile that was about to make curves on my face.

 _I didn't expect it! Nanoha want's to do stretching with me…_ I thought to myself.

But, then I realized how logical was her response to Rein-chan. _Oh yeah, of course.. Nanoha was just trying to avoid with the future conflicts for the team. Also, we have to follow the rules that I made a before. Rein-chan is the team-captain now. I thought to myself._

"A-ah, e-eh-to, yeah, I agree with Nanoha, Rein-chan. As far as I could remember the rules, special treatments are forbidden in our club. I will also appreciate if you guys will not introduce us to the team as your senior. I came here with the intention to join the try-outs normally. We are supposedly graduate students but here we are, we came back. I don't plan to remove you to your position, not only that but also the chance for others to be the part of the team. Please, do not disappoint us." I sighed.

I saw a disappointment in Rein-chan's reaction.

"I understand Fate-san." She said.

"Don't limit us to challenge some of the girls though." I winked at Rein-chan.

"Mou! You never change neesama!" Alicia-chan pouted.

"It's normal Alicia-chan, I might challenge you and crushed you soon." I grinned.

Alicia-chan just laugh.

"Anyway, you should go first, then we will follow after you in a while. It would create a bad impression if the four of us will go inside together. Off you go"

"Alright. Don't take too much time." Rein-chan looked worried while looking at Nanoha.

"Yeah! Don't worry!" Nanoha replied with a victorious smile on her face. _I wonder why_. The two girls went are heading towards the court now.

"Are you sure with this, Nanoha?" I asked her.

"With what Fate-chan?" She answered coldly.

I rolled my eyes. "With me being your stretching partner today."

"Ah.. Yeah, it's not a big deal. After what happened earlier. I think it's fine." Nanoha replied.

"Okay then, let's do it!" I sighed defeated. _It's really hard to resist this woman!_

 **Nanoha POV—**

As much as I wanted to avoid physical contact with Fate-chan, I accepted Alicia-chan's suggestion to work with Fate-chan for the stretching exercise. Seeing how Rein-chan looked at Fate-chan caused me displeasure. The idea of Rein-chan touching Fate-chan aroused jealousy in my part which I shouldn't have felt! I was not able to resist it and spout something to Rein-chan. I'm not in the mood to be a good girl today. I was so happy when I heard Fate-chan pointed out the rules to Rein-chan and Alicia. I also liked the idea of not introducing us to others as their senior. The disappointed look on Rein-chan's face made me smile.

 _Serves you right, Rein-chan! I know what you're up to. Fate-chan and I are no longer together but I cannot let you have her._ I thought to myself then I smiled victoriously.

 **Thanks for the views guys! Nanoha will be in her white devil mode soon.. See you!**


	8. Play Ball!

_**Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN.**_

Fate and Nanoha followed Alicia and Rein after few minutes they went in. Everyone from the gym looked at the two figure who just appeared in front of the entrance.

The team captain and the younger blonde were doing the recap of the rules and procedures of the try outs to their potential recruits. When they had noticed Fate and Nanoha, the pair gave them a direction on where they should perform their warm-up exercises. Seeing the gesture of the two, the older blonde and the sapphire-eyed girl went on the left side of the gym.

While looking around on the court, the blonde asked, wondering if the auburn-haired girl was taking care of herself properly. She had heard from Alicia that Nanoha had stopped playing tennis few months ago which made her worry despite the pain that she was feeling, she knew Nanoha really loves to play the sport since they were kids. "Neh, Nanoha, have you been doing your dynamic warm-ups every day?"

"Ah.. Yeah. I've been doing it every day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year, Fate-chan" – Nanoha responded dryly thinking on how she would respond to the girl beside her. Her heart has been racing since yesterday and she didn't like it.

Hands on her pockets the blonde respond when she thought that Nanoha was taunting her she laughed "Ha! Ha! You don't have to elaborate it, Nanoha." Fate paused for a while while secretly inspecting Nanoha from head to toe while mentally saying. " _Nanoha has an impressive body. Much sexier than the last time I saw her."_ While the other side of her brain was reprimanding her " _Stop gawking at her, Fate! Nothing good in admiring her beauty! She left you out in the dark! You must remember that!"_

Smiling at the auburn-haired girl considering that she's in a good shape she continued "I guess there won't be a problem about the injuries that we might get since you've been so diligent doing your daily routine. I see, you're strict as ever."

Raising her brows to the blonde's remark, remembering how bad Fate was in making her routines without her help she can't help herself to reprimand her indirectly "Being remiss to my body is not my style. Unlike with a certain someone that I know." Nanoha was starting to do the Frankenstein walk to stretch out her hamstring muscles for her lower body. "How about you, Fate-chan? Don't tell me you've been slacking around?"

Pouting at Nanoha, Fate exclaimed defending herself. She cannot let the auburn-haired girl think that she became a slacker. "Hey! I'm reading between the lines, Nanoha! How can I be a slacker when I just came back from TSAB? The amount of physical trainings there were ridiculous!" Fate raised her right eyebrows."Oh, I think we need to do at least 2 sets of 10-15 reps of Hip opener stretch on each leg." Fate added seeing that Nanoha was rushing their warm up exercises.

"I know! Just follow what I'm doing! You don't have to tell me! We don't have the luxury of time to complete the whole sets of stretches. Unless you want to do it alone, Fate-chan?" Nanoha replied, she doesn't know but Fate's presence were irritating her especially when she mentioned about TSAB.

"Fine! I'll do it! No need to sound irritated!" Fate sighed defeatedly, starting to get annoyed but decided to cool it down, she continued "By the way Nanoha, have you been playing tennis since.. since l-last year? I didn't see your tennis racket with you." Fate asked trying to pry what Nanoha was up to lately. When she never received a response from the girl, her shoulders drooped, it was a short awkward moment that the two doesn't want to feel.

Deciding to break the silence, Nanoha spoke. "Y-yeah, been playing with Amy-san and Chrono-kun during their free time. I invited Alicia several times but she declined all of my invitations. As for my tennis racket, I bought a new one."

"I see." Fate answered in a forlorn voice. Dismissing the conversation with Nanoha having all the negative thoughts about her, she glanced away from her.

Nanoha felt anxious and unconsciously bit her lip feeling the tension between her and Fate. She knew that it's not easy to approach the blonde thinking that they have both unfinished business with each other. Her heart was telling her that she should talk and make up with her so soon, but was hesitating to do actions in fear of what Fate's reaction could be. Both of them never spoke to each other after their short conversation.

On the other side of the court were Vita and Hayate spectating what were Nanoha and Fate doing.

"Hayate, I'm surprised to see Takamachi-senpai and Fate-senpai doing the warm-ups together. They even appeared in front of the entrance at the same time. They were even chatting with each other! " Vita staring at the pair, still wondering what happened to these two.

"Yeah, but they look so awkward together! And I hate it!" Knowing her best friend well, she was in great distress and in any minute, she might find a thing or two to blow up to release her stress which made her felt more worried. "There's a strange aura lurking on Nanoha-chan. Fate-chan looks depress too. It's so frustrating to see them like that Vita-chan!" Hayate shook Vita's shoulder thinking that she must do something about her bestfriends.

"Oh? Why are you frustrated Hayate?" Vita asked but understood that her friend was really upset about the break-up of Nanoha and Fate. "And can you please stop shaking me?!" Vita exclaimed. Glancing at Reinforce, she continued to speak wondering what the tanuki had said to their captain earlier that made her upset "It seems that Rein was upset with you. What did you say to her earlier?"

"Oh, it was nothing Vita-chan. I just told her that she doesn't have the chance to put Fate-chan in bed. Tee-hee…" Hayate placed her fist on her head while sticking out her tongue then she added "I also told her, we can do it together all the way if she wants! Haha!" The brunette made a silly laugh while shaking in laughter. She used to have a crush on Rein when she was in the 2nd year middle school, but cannot pursue her since Alicia was preventing her to do so which made her smile thinking that it was the best thing that ever happened since she knew that the silvery-haired girl has feelings for Fate and it could have stain her friendship with her childhood friend.

Slapping her friend's shoulder Vita reprimanded her "You idiot! Do not corrupt Rein with your perverted thoughts, Hayate! Stop flirting with her." Remembering how the tanuki could not handle the sad Alicia very well, grinning to her friend she decided to tease her, creasing her brows she said "I'm sure Alicia-chan will not appreciate what you had said to Rein. Maybe, I should go tell her now."

Pouting at the red head girl, Hayate placed her hands on Vita's shoulders, she knew how the younger blonde will react on her remarks and she doesn't want to deal with Alicia's gloomy demeanor and she prefer to see her mischievous smile. "Wait, Vita-chan! I was just joking! Don't be so serious!" Vita deadpanned, glaring at her saying nothing. Wrapping her arms around herself, she playfully said "Mou, you're so stiff! Do you really want to see my dead gorgeous body naked hanging on the bridge?!"

Smirking at her friend she said, "Seriously, Hayate you have to…" The redhead-girl was not able to finish her speech when she saw that Teana was on her way to approach Fate and Nanoha.

"Wait! Lanstar was on her way to Takamachi-senpai and Fate-senpai! She's supposed to be listening to Rein while checking on the first years!" Vita face-palmed "What the hell is she doing? I must go and scold her now!"

Scratching her head in disbelief, Hayate wanted to prevent a disaster that might happened especially she knew Teana's attitude and she might be her auburn-haired girl friend's stress reliever today. "I'll come with you, Vita-chan!" The brunette and Vita stood up and walked towards the direction where Fate and Nanoha were.

"Hey! You two! What the hell do you think are you doing here?" Hands on her hips, Teana reproached the pair without knowing who they were.

Nanoha and Fate look at each other with a questioning brows formed at the auburn-haired girl's face, she crossed her arms and said "Ahhhmm, doing some warm up exercises?" The blonde did her best not to laugh hearing Nanoha's response to the girl who was trying to scold them unreasonably.

"Oh, I can see that. And why the hell are you doing exercise here?" Pointing her finger on the floor, Teana insisted that they shouldn't be inside the gym "This is a tennis court, I supposed you should be doing your pity exercises outside this premises!" Teana answered sarcastically.

Trying to conceal her irritation, not wanting to make a fuss but her pride was about to get hurt, Fate responded coldly "We are here to join the try-outs. That's why we are here. We are not yet done with the warm-up stretches, and we are finishing it up, now."

"Oh right, you were late and yet you are taking much of your sweet time doing the stretches! Are you blind?" Raising her browse, Teana estimated the two girls from head to foot.

Pointing to where Rein and Alicia where she continued "Don't you see that everyone was listening to the team captain about the recap of the rules? If you were late it means that you are incompetent! You did not even bring your rackets with you!"

"What an arrogant bitch.. tsk tsk..!" -Nanoha could not help herself but to respond harshly not wanting other people to yell at her especially Fate. Her protective instinct would not allow anyone to insult her blonde.

"What did you say?! Who were you calling a bitch?!" Teana raised her voice that caught everyone's attention inside the gym. Alicia, Rein, Vita and Hayate were heading their way to the fuss.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? Are you deaf?" Nanoha's replied in a sardonic tone, trying her best not to blow up the girl instantly she insulted her back.

"Lanstar-san, wait! Could you please calm down? You don't have to reprimand them!" Alicia stood up in front of the orange-haired girl, looking at her straight from the eye.

"Oh great! Testarrosa-senpai, I don't want to hear that from a loser like you. You are telling me not to reprimand these two for being incompetent on tryouts?! Haha! That's funny!" She responded thinking that the shorter blonde has no right to tell her what to do.

"Lanstar!" – Vita shouted calling her attention, while Hayate pulled Alicia away from the girl. The tanuki was worried about the younger blonde to do something she shouldn't have but instead she trusted Nanoha to do something about Teana's attitude.

Can't believe on what she just heard, Nanoha gritted her teeth. Alicia doesn't deserve any insults from anyone and she know that Fate will do something about it. Fate was staring at Teana coldly and the auburn haired girl could not grasp what she was thinking. Both Nanoha and Hayate spoiled the shorter blonde but since the tanuki was such a kind girl, it was Nanoha's role to teach this girl a good lesson. "I can see that you have a great attitude. You are not only an arrogant bitch. But, also a disrespectful junior to her senior. Tsk, calling your senior a loser is rather disgusting."

"Girls, stop it! I think we need to calm down." Rein tried to mediate but no one listened to her. Hearing what Rein has said made Nanoha enraged.

"You know what, whoever-san, do you seriously think that you are talented in playing tennis? To me, it seems that you do not know enough to come out the rain." Nanoha smirked knowing that Teana could not even par with Alicia. "And if you really think that you are good enough to make that kind of remarks to Alicia-chan, then you are as daft as a brush." Nanoha looked down on her.

Not accepting the insult, she shouted "How dare you insult my tennis skills! I am one of the best in this team!"

Running her fingers on her hair, she raised her brows "Oh, I didn't think that you are really slow on the uptake, whoever-san." Pressing her left hand on her hips, Nanoha decided to challenge the girl. "I'll say this clearly to you. Why don't we settle this with a match?"

"Ara- are you sure you really want to have a match with me? I'll make sure you'll gonna bite the dust!" Teana's face was flushing in red. Itching to beat the girl that she didn't even know who she was.

"What? Are you telling me that you are a yellow-bellied person?!" Nanoha added the salt on Teana's wounded pride while mockingly laughing at her "Niyahaha! Come on! Let's get the ball rolling!"

"You two must stop this now! You cannot drag everyone with this because of your own selfishness!" Not wanting to make the issue bigger, Reinforce decided to stand between the two, pushing Teana away from Nanoha. The silver white-haired girl know how the previous captain punished other people, to blow up anyone that will pissed her off. As much as she wanted to hit Teana, she knew that it wasn't a good idea to raise a red flag against the sapphire-eyed girl. "Can we just set aside this for now? We're in the middle of our tryouts!" She glared at Teana.

Nanoha was about to slap Rein when Fate grab her wrist. Even she was upset at her imouto's best friend by not protecting her from the insults, she can't let the auburn-haired girl do something that will destroy the relationship between the two, knowing that Reinforce idolizes Nanoha. Glaring at Rein, she spoke coldly that made the silver haired girl worried. "Play ball, Reinforce. Let Nanoha do what she wanted to do with this junior of yours."

"But.." Rein was about to reason out when Fate interrupted her.

"No buts!" Fate gave her a dismissal wave. Then, the blonde commanded the girls to do something for her "Vita, go and get our racket's now." Looking at her tanuki friend now, who was whispering to Alicia, trying to comfort her, she interrupted her "Hayate, tell everyone that there will be a match before the try-outs. Make sure that everyone will keep an eye." Hayate nodded, grabbing ahold of Alicia, they walked towards to the other team members but the shorter blonde stopped and went back to her sister.

Teana was shocked seeing her seniors being bossed around by the taller blonde that she doesn't know who she was and the auburn-haired girl that she just insulted a while ago.

Alicia tried to stop the plan, worried about the outcome. She doesn't care what Teana had said, she can do something about her later, but she will not let her oneesama's get into trouble. "Onee-sama, you don't have to… " Fate cut her instantly.

"Enough! Alicia. We'll talk about this later." Fate gave her a devious smile and patted her head.

Turning her attention to the confused Teana she spoke "And as for you, you better go and get ready for your match. I'll give you an option. You can choose between the two of us for your today's opponent. I am not as good as your senpai's here but I can assure you that you cannot beat me."

Glancing at Nanoha who was rolling her eyes hearing what Fate had said, the auburn haired girl will never approve the way the blonde will handle the situation. "Or if you want the strongest opponent you can choose this girl. If one of us will lose the match, we will not join the team." Fate spokes in a fussy voice.

For some reason, Teana could not gather some words to throw against Fate just by hearing the tone of her voice. It was more like she was giving her a command rather than an option and she felt that the older blonde wasn't intimidating her but telling her that she was certain that they would win the game. She was waiting for the other condition about her losing the game but Fate did not make any conditions aside from that. She chose to walk away to make herself ready. While Nanoha was not pleased about what she had heard from Fate. Alicia was even more worried, the two were always arguing the way they handle the conflicts and punishments. Both never backed out on their opinions especially, Nanoha who was always agressive.

"Fate-neesama, Nanoha-neesama, I must warn you. She's a strong opponent." Alicia warned the blonde and the sapphire-eyed girl.

Ignoring Alicia's warning she smiled "It doesn't matter Alicia-chan. I'll make her bite the dust." Nanoha place her left hand to the younger blonde's head, gently stroking her hair, she smiled at her. "On that note, I'll be the one's going to play with her. Not Fate-chan."

"But you haven't even played in singles game, Nanoha-neesama." the younger Testarossa was feeling anxious but the truth was, she was worried that Nanoha would do the same thing as what she did to Rein before when she saw that the silvery white haired girl confessed to her oneesama during the summer camp and was enraged when Nanoha found out that Rein peck on Fate's lips.

Fate facepalmed by hearing Alicia's statement. "Nanoha, it seems that you didn't teach your apprentice very well. She's underestimating you." Fate said dryly. "Are you sure you want to do this? I can't let this slide." Fate looked at where Teana was.

"Fate-chan, I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to do that. Haven't you heard her insults towards me and Alicia?!" Annoyed on how Fate was trying to solve the situation, she yelled at her knowing that it would upset the blonde she lashed out to Fate. "She'll be my stress reliever for today! So, stay out of this and stay away from me!"

Fate and Nanoha glared at each other. Fate clenched her jaw when she heard what Nanoha has said. Her resentment towards the auburn-haired girl's nonsense has resurfaced, the feeling of abandonment and rejection that she had felt since they broke up, she wondered if she can contain it. While Nanoha's eyes were filled with frustrations and hurt over the reason of their break-up, she can't help but lashed out to Fate. Alicia could not do anything about the present situation so she chose to keep her mouth shut and thought that they must do something about the two.

"Do what you want, Takamachi." After saying those words, Fate walked away leaving Nanoha and Alicia unsettled and went towards the umpire chair and climbed up her way to sit down. The group of girls noticed and was surprised to see her.

There was a commotion among the first years and second years when they saw Fate sitting on the umpire chair.

"-Areeeh! Is that? Is that Fate Testarossa-san?!" One of the girls pointed her finger on the umpire's seat. Everyone turned their gaze to the blonde was checking something on her phone.

"You mean, that Fate Testarossa-senpai that has no official record of losses?" The girls keep on observing the girl who was now staring at their direction.

"Wow! She's so gorgeous! She's looking on this side!" The shorter girl giggled.

"I didn't expect her to have a sylphlike body! She's taller and more gorgeous than Alicia-senpai too! I felt so envy!" The other girl shook her friend.

"-Niyahaha! Silly! You girls don't know her? Look at this, I've been following her on Instagram since I was in middle school." The other girl opened her phone and showed it to others. "She doesn't like posting a lot of photos though. For some unknown reason, she stopped posting pictures a year ago. This is Takamachi Nanoha-senpai, her doubles partner. With that enticing smile she looked a million dollar, right?"

The girl said lowering her voice. "Neh, neh! I've heard they were dating."

"Oh? Who told you?"

"This photo was the evidence!"

"Oh, this photo was sweet! These pair look so good together! They have a whimsical feeling in here. Testarossa-senpai was blushing while Takamachi Nanoha-senpai was smiling at her playfully." The girl pointed the photo where the blonde was sitting on the bench while the auburn haired girl's arms were wrapped around her shoulders, almost kissing Fate's cheek.

"Wow! You're well informed!"

"Takamachi-san is the sole heir of Takamachi Corporation, isn't she?"

"Ah, yeah. They were extremely rich." The girls didn't notice that Hayate snuck in behind their back, scratching her head while listening to her kouhai's gossip, she can't help herself but smile. Even if they don't want to be showered by too much attention, they seem could not able to escape it.

"If you girls didn't notice, most of the regulars came from the top elite families. I'm sure they were childhood friends. The Testarossa and Yagami are from the noble families, it's not as powerful as the Ingvalt and Huckenbein though."

"Takamachi's were still in the power though, and they used to be the part of the noble line."

"How did you know that?" the other girl asked.

"Aren't you girls informed? What did your tutors teach you?"

"Ehemm, Are you girls done gossiping?" Hayate called their attention. Everyone was surprised, secretly smiling when they heard the brunette spoke from their back feeling embarrassed, but they knew that the tanuki was the kindest girl among the senpai's. Some of them were secretly wanting her attention, but with Alicia around they just back off.

"Today, before we start our tryouts there will be a match between Lanstar-san and that woman." Hayate chuckled while pointing her finger to Nanoha's direction.

"Woaah! Takamachi-senpai! She looks as pretty as the picture!" The girls tittered.

"Areeeh? Nanoha-chan is definitely alluring. But, just to warn you my little angels she's not in a good mood today." The girl could not help but made a light squeak when Hayate called them little angels. The brunette chuckled and continued "I suggest, you must behave yourselves and watch the match without blinking an eye. You'll learn a lot from this." Although the tension from her face was visible, Hayate winked at the girls playfully, giving them a wide grin, which made the girls feel at ease.

"Preet preet preeeet!" a series of high pitched sound from the whistle filled up the gym, enough to call the attention of every person within the sound range.

"Today, we will be going to witness an interesting match-up that you will never see outside this court. I will be the chair umpire for this match. I will also be the referee and the service judge. Alicia, Reinforce, Hayate, and Vita will be the line judges. I hope this match will serve a good lesson for everyone." After saying those words, she called out the attention of Nanoha and Teana. "Hot headed athletes, please step in near the umpire seat." Fate finished her speech in a phlegmatic tone.

 **The next scene might be harder for me to write since I am not an experienced writer. So please, be patient with me guys.**

 **Also, I'm not sure if I had written this chapter well. Go easy with me! haha! Thanks for the reviews! Happy Holidays!**


	9. Match-up!

**Happy New Year guys! I'm very sorry for the late update. I was sick during the break. I'm not sure if you will enjoy this chapter, but here it is!**

 ***Edited***

It was a chilly morning and everyone from the court were anticipating for a heated match-up between Nanoha and Teana. Some of the orange-haired girl's friend were cheering for her and some were worried about how she was behaving herself in front of their senpais.

Hearing what the blonde had announced and calling them hot-headed athletes, Teana exclaimed asking her friend Shari who was giving her a worried look. ''Who the fuck was her to decide to be an umpire and the referee for this game?!" She paused for a while and tightened her grip on her racket wondering what Fate was trying to show to everyone. "How dare her disrespect our team captain!''

''Aree, Teana-san? You don't know that person, do you?'' placing her left hand on her chest, Shari asked worriedly.

''Why the hell should I know her?!' Rolling her eyes, Teana asked irritatedly thinking on why some of her teammates knew the taller blonde.

''That's Fate-senpai. Fate Testarossa-senpai, Teana-san.'' One of the girls answered her inquiry to feed her ignorance.

''Who the fuck did you say?'' Teana's eyes widened when she heard the blonde's name. She knew that Alicia has an older sister who was one of the best tennis players in the high school division.

"Teana, Fate Testarossa-senpai doesn't have any official records of losses. She's also Alicia-senpai's sister.'' Shari responded thinking that her friend was being an idiot and had become more stubborn for the past few months.

''Oh shit! How the hell should I expect to see a Fate Testarossa joining the tryouts?! Aren't she supposed to be in college?'' Teana started to feel uneasy thinking that she had dug her own grave making those remarks to Alicia in front of Fate. Everyone knew that they came from a good family, and she was really trying out the younger blonde's patience.

''And your opponent Teana-san. She's much more dangerous. Unlike Fate Testarossa-senpai, she's really a hard hitter and could aim wherever she wants." Abled to watch Nanoha and Fate's game during middle school, Shari already knew the outcome for this match and Teana doesn't have an idea that those two along with Hayate were on the different level when it comes to the court. "Teana, even Takamachi-senpai, and Testarossa-senpai don't have an official record for playing in singles, also Yagami-senpai, those three were top calibers." Giving her friend a little idea, she sighed. "There was once an exhibition matches with other pro's two years ago, those three were able to catch the sponsors attention with the way they played. They're playing smart. They were not just tennis players but they're also the top students on their batch."

"Oh, I've heard about that! They said, they had received some offers but they had declined those for a reason that they're just playing the competition to strengthen their friendship and enjoy the game." the other girl butted in the conversation.

"Of course, that's what made them different from other senpais in other schools! They'll just play once and will give the kouhai's chance to take part the competitions for the next season." One of the third years explained that made the first years look forward to joining the team.

Hearing those remarks from her teammates she had wondered about who Takamachi-san since she was not able to grasp everything, she was about to ask but was interrupted. ''And who is the-"

''I repeat, hot-headed players, step in near the umpire seat.'' Fate was starting to get impatient and called their attention once more.

While on the other side of the court Vita handed the racket to Nanoha who was confidently standing. ''Senpai, are you sure about this? You don't have to sweat out just for Lanstar. I can beat her for you.'' Vita asked nervously.

''What are you talking about Vita-chan? After this game, all of us will have a long sweet talk." Pointing her finger to Fate, she knew that Fate will protect her sister and any insults towards Alicia will not be taken lightly. "Take a look at that blonde woman sitting on the umpire seat. I'm pretty sure she doesn't appreciate the insults that were thrown to her beloved little sister.

Hearing Fate calling their attention, she said "If you would excuse me Vita-chan, the match is about to start. I'm going to make that woman run in the mill'' Nanoha responded coldly.

Vita sighed defeatedly as she watched Nanoha walked towards Fate and Teana hoping that they won't be scolded after the game.

When the auburn-haired girl reached the seat, Fate asked both of them while she was holding a coin on her finger. ''Head or tail?''

Raising her brows to Nanoha, she said ''I'll take the head.''

''Fine. I'll take the tail then'' Nanoha responded coldly, crossing her arms whilst looking away from Fate.

''Alright, the winner of the coin toss gets to decide whether she wants to serve, receive, choose a side of the court, or defer the decision to the opponent.'' Fate explained as when the two had chosen their sides, she tossed the coin and caught it with her right hand she smirked when she saw which side had won. ''Oh, it seems that the tail had won the coin toss. What will be your -

''I'll serve first. We are playing indoor, it doesn't matter which side of the court I will choose.'' Nanoha interrupted Fate abruptly, cutting the chase to start the game soon and knowing that the blonde doesn't want to get interrupted. Fate raised her eyebrow and stare at Nanoha, she met her gaze.

Not wanting to give in to the auburn-haired girl's whims, she reprimanded her, not giving her a chance to respond. ''Please refrain from interrupting me while I am speaking. I would appreciate it. If you girls are ready let's play ball!''

Sighing, Fate observed the two girls who went to each designated court to get themselves ready. Teana looks so confident and was trying to scare off her opponent by glaring at her.

While Nanoha's reaction was calm and cold that that was visible on her sapphire eyes with the thoughts on her head that she could finish the game so soon. As a habit, Nanoha was fixing the strings of her tennis while breathing deeply, keeping away the negative thoughts on her head so that she can focus and get in the zone.

''Preeet, Preeet, Preeet! Get the ball rolling, Takamachi.'' Fate called out Nanoha's attention, she saw how the auburn-haired girl's lips pouted a little when the blonde called her by her last name making Fate mentally laugh a little knowing that the girl doesn't like it. "It really pissed her off when I'm calling her by her last name.

''Takamachi? Did I hear it right?'' Teana mumble to herself, realizing that she could be in trouble but her pride was telling her that she could no longer back and wanting to test her skill.

Without saying any word, Nanoha gets herself ready, her feet were apart, her knees were slightly bent, her left foot was on the back supporting a balance. She lifted the tennis ball in the air. Her toss was high and forward. Nanoha's stance looks like she's going to hit the ball to the baseline with full force.

Teana was getting ready to receive the ball from the baseline but to her surprise, Nanoha hit the ball gently the ball landed two inches away on the single sidelines in the service box near the net.

"Service ace. Fifteen-love." Fate declared, thinking that Nanoha would surely embarrass the girl for not giving her a chance to score points.

"What the hell was that?! I thought Shari said she's a hard hitter?" Teana stared at Shari who just gave her an awkward smile. "It doesn't matter, it's just the start of the game."

On the other side of the court, Nanoha was getting ready to serve again, she bounced the ball twice as she relaxes her body, always at ease and confidently tossed the tennis ball on the air. The exquisite movements of her body were perfect as she swung her tennis racket to hit the ball with a speed of light, three inches to the baseline that left Teana popeyed. Everyone was astonished by Nanoha's serve.

"Thirty-Love in favor of Takamachi.". Fate declared the score while gawking at the sapphire-eyed girl who's now looking at her direction with brows knitted together.

''Way to go Takamachi-senpai! You're amazing! We're rooting for you!'' The first years giggled while cheering for Nanoha.

Nanoha was getting ready for her third service when she paused for a while and surveyed Teana's position. Fate was getting on her nerves already and the blonde knew that she really hate it when she calls her "Takamachi" but she keeps on calling her that today.

As Teana positioned herself on the right side of the baseline. There was a half-smile that was visible on Nanoha's face that never reached her eyes. Again, she lifted the tennis ball in the air. She tossed the ball higher than usual and when the timing was perfect she jumped and hit the ball as she added some spin on it. The direction was going directly towards Teana's position and it hit her left knee. Since Teana was inside the court so it was Nanoha's score. A quite a powerful serve that could at least hurt someone's knees.

Hayate face-palmed seeing what her friend did, grumbling beside Alicia she said "How could Nanoha-chan use her Starlight Breaker now."

A questioning brow formed in Alicia's forehead hearing what the brunette had said. "Starlight Breaker? What's that, Hayate?"

Giving her a silly laugh, Hayate gave a dismissal waved "Oya? Nothing, Alicia-chan. Hehe?!" Mentally scolding herself she said "I just hope Alicia-chan will forget about it and will not ask Nanoha-chan what she just heard. She was really embarrassed about it."

"Ahhhh! Ouch!" Teana exclaimed and kneeled down while holding her left knee.

"Forty-love in favor of Takamachi. Lanstar, are you okay?" Fate asked Teana worriedly. She might be displeased on what the orange-haired girl had done, she never wished her to get injured.

"Ah, yes. I'm fine. This is nothing." Teana stood up to get herself ready again.

"I'm sorry! Pure accident!" Nanoha apologized insincerely while waving her hand, secretly smirking when Fate hasn't realized what she had just done.

"I need to do something when it's my time to serve. Her last serve was quite powerful. I need to be careful not to be hit. I must admit, it's hard to break her serve." Teana was mumbling to herself. The sweats on her body were starting to form.

Nanoha was relaxing herself as she was bouncing the tennis ball on the ground. She didn't waste any more time to finish the game. She hit the ball normally and it landed on the service box. Teana should have returned the serve however she was slowed down by the stung on her knee where she was hit by Nanoha's previous serve.

"Game! Takamachi won the first game. The score is 1-0 in Favor of Takamachi. Please, change your courts." Fate declared the score but noticed that Teana wasn't moving from her position.

"Lanstar, are you sure you are okay? We can stop the match if your knee is hurting so bad." Fate asked Teana.

"I said I'm fine!" Teana exclaimed trying to act stubborn.

"Well then if you insist. Now, move to the other side of the court. Don't keep me waiting. The next game will be your service, you should be excited." Fate commanded whilst trying to hold her annoyance.

When Nanoha and Teana are on their way on changing their courts Reinforce approached Fate. Her face was worried.

"Fate-san, we should stop this game now. That service jump of Takamachi-san was not just by luck." Reinforce was looking up to Fate. The blonde looked down to the silvery white-haired girl, she raised her eyebrow and went down from the chair. She gently gripped Reinforce wrist and slightly pull her away from the court. Everyone was wondering what happened to see their senpai's arguing.

"What are you implying Rein? We are in the middle of a match! The shot on Teana's knees was just a coincidence. It's normal to be hit by the ball during the game! We cannot just assume that Nanoha purposely hit her!" Fate pressed her lips together, trying to hold her voice.

"Fate-san, we both know that there are only three people in this team who are capable of hitting someone precisely anywhere they want. I'm the team captain of this team now, I'm not supposed to do this but I am begging you to stop the game now." Rein look at Fate in the eyes hoping that the blonde will listen to her.

"You are such a worry-wart when it comes to Lanstar. Fine. Team captain. I will stop the game, only if I could see any signs that Nanoha was purposely hitting Lanstar to prevent more injuries. Stopping the game in the middle of a match is an insult both to the players. I hope you know that." Fate responded to Rein, then she moved her way to the umpire seat leaving the team captain.

"Preeet Preeeet! Lanstar, get into position." Fate declared when she saw that Teana was not yet ready. The blonde's face became more serious after her conversation with Rein.

Teana was holding the ball from her hand. Her body was tensed up due to the stung on her knee. She was trying to keep her composure as she swung the ball on the air, she hit it with a full force trying to score a service ace but the ball landed on the net.

"Fault!" Fate declared.

Teana took a deep breath as she was about to do her second service, Teana straightened up her body and toss the ball in the air. She did the serve-volley to add pressure on Nanoha. She hit the ball towards the middle of the service box to avoid giving an angle, then she ran towards the net. However, to her surprise, Nanoha's reflex was faster than her. The sapphire-eyed girl was in front of the net and she was about to swing her racket to hit the ball. Teana's eyes grew wider predicting that the ball will hit her face, she tried to cover it with her racket and saw Nanoha smirked at her before she hit the ball. The auburn-haired girl swung her racket to hit Teana's face but instead she had targeted her right hand with full force. Teana dropped her racket as she was screaming in pain when her hand was hit by the ball.

"Ahhhhhh! What the fuck are you doing!" Teana exclaimed while glaring at her opponent.

Nanoha ran towards Teana and she leaned down and whispered something to her ear.

"Now you know the difference on how the elites play tennis. If you can't handle that kind of pain, you are such a weakling." She gave Teana a cold stare.

"You're a devil. You are just playing dirty to win!" Teana was gritting her teeth trying to talk back to Nanoha.

Smirking Nanoha responded. "Yes. I'm a devil. I'm the white devil of Midchilda Senior High. Takamachi Nanoha. The next time I hear you insulting our precious Alicia, I'm going to make your life a living hell." Tapping Teana's shoulders she continued "By the way, if you will not run on the clinic and tend to your knee and hand, it will be in terrible condition," Nanoha said in an antagonizing voice.

Everyone was shocked by what Nanoha had done to Teana. The first years and second years could not say a word. Reinforce and Shari ran towards Teana to check on her injury. She was agitated as she was looking at Nanoha, but she was trying to calm down herself. Fate checked the orange-haired girl's injury, hoping that nothing serious was inflicted by Nanoha. Although she was annoyed with Teana, fate could not stand seeing someone was hit badly in front of her, always treating others fairly despite the differences.

''Let me see your hand, Lanstar.'' Without any approval, Fate held out Teana's right hand that made the orange haired girl grimaced in pain.

''How was it Fate-san?'' Reinforce asked worriedly, trying to see if something really bad happened. As the team captain of the team, she has to make sure everyone was treated fairly which she had learned from her senpai's. She clenched her fist when she saw the girl's swollen parts and wished that Teana didn't piss off Nanoha in the first place. Rein knew that the auburn-haired girl was territorial and protective to anyone to them, but she could not help herself but remember what Nanoha did to her and wish that it never happened.

''It's nothing serious. It's swollen though. She just needs to do a cold compressed with her hand and her knee. She can't play tennis for a while though.'' Fate responded to Reinforce then she turned her gaze to Teana then she spoke again. ''I hope this match gave you a very good reminder to keep your feet on the ground, Lanstar." She massaged her forehead and continued "You are just lucky, Nanoha didn't smack the ball on your face or your head. Worst if you were hit by the ball on your eye. She's very much capable of doing that. I do not condone violence but you pick on with the wrong person. You were rude to us especially to my little sister, Alicia. You somewhat deserve a beat down. There, I'm done putting the plaster on your hand. Go home.'' Clenching her fist, Fate stood up and turned her back away from Lanstar and started to walk towards the room, whilst Rein followed her hurriedly.

The silver-haired girl called out her friends to go inside their meeting room. Nanoha, Fate, Vita, and Hayate followed her inside the room. The blonde was the last person to enter the room and furiously slammed the door which made everyone jumped out on their skin. ''Blaaaaaaag!'' Fate slammed the door so hard. The atmosphere was filled with different emotions, fear, worries, anger, annoyance, and irritation. Never in a situation that they saw the older blonde got angry like that.

''Neesama, please come down,'' Alicia spoke trying to calm down the situation, she embraced her sister but Fate did not respond, long silence follows.

''What did you think had you done Takamachi-senpai?'' Rein broke the silence by asking Nanoha trying to understand what she had done.

Raising her brows Nanoha responded coldly. ''Are you trying to reprimand me Reinforce?''

Fate slammed her fist on the board which made Nanoha felt worried sick. Although she was still feeling hurt on what happened to them, she couldn't allow the older blonde to hurt herself especially her hands. But of course, she clearly understood oh why Fate was acting that way. When it comes to her loved ones, she could not let others messed with them. "How can you girls let Lanstar insult Alicia-chan that way?! How long has it been like this?!''

''That is not the point now Fate-san! In regardless of what kind of person Teana was, Takamachi-senpai shouldn't have hurt her in front of the other players during that match! The impression-'' Reinforce tried to explain but was cut off by Nanoha that made her felt so upset. She was concerned on what will happen to her friends if the school will find out that someone from the tennis team was hitting their juniors freely and since they were the seniors and let it happened, all of them were accountable to their actions and could be punished or worst the club might get disbanded.

''To hell with the impression Reinforce! How can you call yourself a captain if you cannot even protect your teammates to others! Are you really Alicia's best friend?!'' Nanoha spoke in a loud voice as she was really annoyed at the thought of Rein being biased on her views about on that matter.

''Nanoha-neesama, Fate-neesama, Rein, if this is just about me please don't fight.'' Alicia pleaded, she could not really stand the view seeing her precious people fighting because of her, not anymore.

''I don't want to hear that from you, Takamachi-san. I certainly keep the people who I hold dear in my life! Do not justify what you did to Teana from our fault! You cannot just hit someone anytime you like!'' Reinforce gritted her teeth as her body was starting to tremble. She doesn't want to fight with her senpai but she needed to let them know that they cannot just act irrationally at that moment.

''Rein! How can you just blame Nanoha for all of this?!'' Fate asked trying to comprehend what was the silvery-haired trying to explain and where she was coming.

''How can I not be Fate-san?! Takamachi-san was trying to injure Teana just like what she did to me before because she was angry! She's always vio-!"

Slaaaaaaaaaaaap! Slaaaaap! Nanoha slapped both of Reinforce's cheeks. Without given a chance to retaliate Nanoha pinned down Reinforce to the wall, gripping her wrists.

"Nanoha-chan!" Hayate tried to pull her friend but Nanoha swatted away her hand.

''Nanoha! -'' Fate tried to stop the girl but Nanoha glared at her. ''Don't you dare say anything to me Fate-chan!" And don't go any step further, all of you!''

Facing Rein whilst maintaining an eye contact she said "You are trying to blame everything to me. Is this really about me hitting Teana? Or it's about you remembering the day that Fate-chan rejected you?! Nanoha shook her head in displease. "All these years I thought that I was already forgiven but I didn't know you held grudge against me! What happened to you Reinforce?! The day before yesterday was different! You have been so friendly not until the day Fate-chan appeared in our homeroom!"

Rein was trying to break away from Nanoha's hold but she couldn't. "If you are bringing up the old issue like this because of Fate-chan, then I'll tell you something that I should've told you before! Don't go bitching and confessing your love to your friend's lover! One more thing, you became an incompetent captain by letting other players disrespect other players. We were thinking highly of you, Fate and I when we decided to choose you but I think, we were wrong. I'm not joining this team!" Nanoha smirked as she let go of Eins wrists. "If you badly want Fate-chan, you can give it a try."

Nanoha stood in front of Fate which made the blonde wonder what she was about to do. She gazed at her blonde intensely as her sapphire eyes were filled with love, longing, hate and pain for the blonde. How she missed the girl but for now, she has to show Rein that Fate would never be hers. Moving closer to Fate, she ran a knuckle on her face and wrapped her arms on her neck.

Face flushing in bewilderment, Fate froze up on what was Nanoha's doing. Their lips were only a few inches away from each other. The four other girls in the room were shocked due to the jaw-dropping situation that they were witnessing. Taking one last glance to Rein, Nanoha sealed the distance between her lips to Fate, she asserted her tongue which was welcomed by the blonde. Although the crimson-eyed girl was confused, she was enjoying herself and wrapped her arms around Nanoha's waist as she was savoring the taste of the tongue of the person that she loves. The kiss was long, deep and passionate, both of them had forgotten that were people watching them. As when the two of them felt that they needed an air to breathe, Nanoha realized how she missed the girl, the warmth of her skin, the taste of her lips which made her heart sank, remembering that the blonde doesn't want to be with her anymore. A warm liquid started to run down on her face which made Fate's mind cloudy, she tried to wipe the tears on her love but the auburn-haired girl suddenly pushed her away and started dashing out from the court.

"Hayate! Please go after Nanoha!" Fate called out her brunette friend, she knew that she and Nanoha need some time to think about their situation, hoping that they could reconcile in the future. Right now, she can only entrust Nanoha to Hayate. After all these years, she thought that she was never good enough for Nanoha. Seeing her cried like that was killing her and she needed to do something about it.

"I know Fate-chan! You don't have to tell me." Hayate was about to run after Nanoha when Fate grabbed ahold of her wrist.

"Don't let her drive in that kind of condition, please." Hayate nodded then she dashed towards the exit hoping to catch up with her friend soon.

"Neesama, are you okay? Your face is flushing in red. Please, don't be angry with Rein." Alicia embraced Fate trying to calm her down. She knew that her oneesama's were just acting irrationally and she couldn't their friendship to be torn down by miscommunication. She understood Rein and the other's very well, not that they didn't help her to deal with Teana, but it was her decision to face it by her own.

Fate snorted as she was staring at her kohai's. She really want to run and stopped Nanoha that moment, she held her horses instead she spoke to her friend. "Rein, I am very disappointed on what was happening here. I cannot entrust Alicia to you if you let people disrespect her."

"Vita, you are more assertive than others but you let this happened too." Fate reprimanded them, the three of them just listened in respect to her. Vita was trying to calm Rein down as she was crying like a baby.

"As for you Alicia…" Fate leaned on her ear, whispering the words "How can you become a crown princess... No, a queen in the future if you can't even handle Lanstar?" Fate paused a little and took a deep breath "I've told you for a hundred times already, that a princess should not be stepped on by others. Heika, no, Obaa-sama will surely be more disappointed with you if she'll know about this." The younger blonde's eyes widened in fear as when she heard what her onee-sama had said. "I am not saying that you are incompetent Alicia, I am not telling you to be a brat either and destroy Teana, but you were dealing this in a wrong way." After saying those words to Alicia, Fate left the room leaving her imouto wondering what she had said.

Nanoha was standing in front of her car, recalling on what she did earlier, her face was flushing in red as she could not stop crying, she mentally grumbled. "I kissed her, that was the first time that Fate allowed my tongue to explore inside her mouth in front of other people." She brushed her finger on her lip "Now what?! I ran away crying! That was so stupid of me! I always marked and claimed her as mine in front of everyone. But, the truth is, I could not even be with her! It hurts a lot, Fate-chan!"

She was about to open her car when she heard Hayate calling her name. "Nanoha-chan! Are you okay? Why did you run off? Fate-chan was worried about you! We are all worried about you!" Hayate cupped her face with her palms wiping off her tears. "Don't just run away like that Nanoha-chan okay? Don't feel embarrassed about it." As when the brunette has done with wiping her face, she grabbed the keys from Nanoha's hand and hopped in on the driver's seat.

Nanoha was shocked at what her friend had done and she knew that it wasn't a good idea if she let her drive. "What are you doing Hayate-chan? Give me back my keys and get out from the driver's seat!"

Ignoring her friend's grumbling, she shrugged her off responding casually. Knowing her best friend, she will just continue to act stubborn. "I can't let you drive while you are crying Nanoha-chan. Now, hop in!"

Glaring at the girl, Nanoha exclaimed as she was worried that her friend was still underage and has no license. "Hayate-chan, you don't have a driver's license!"

"And so is Fate-chan! The Fate-chan that you had passionately kissed a while ago!" Hayate giggled while saying those words that made Nanoha blushed like a tomato. Her friend really knew how to shut her up, so she had decided to let her do what she wanted now or the teasing might worsen.

"Bakaa! I'm amazed on how you call us differently when other people are around. Why not just call us by our names normally, Hayate-chan?" Feeling embarrassed about Hayate's teasing, she wiped her tears away, reprimanding herself that she shouldn't have shown other people her weakness but her tears were flowing like the streams of running water.

"Where should I drive you, Nanoha-chan?" Ignoring her friend's inquisition, Hayate asked with her brows knitted together. Thinking that she really need to talk with her best friends and helped them fixed their relationship since it was really obvious that they still love and care for each other so deeply. She just need to smack Nanoha's stubbornness to reach out to Fate.

Releasing a deep sigh, she responded defeatedly and leaned her head on the window. "Drive me back to my parent's house in Tokyo, Hayate-chan. Can you do that?"

Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, she took a quick glance at her friend and said, "Alright, Nanoha-chan, let me get my stuffs in the apartment first. We'll have a long talk today." Hayate started the engine and continued "I will not tell you to stop crying, I know you're in pain now but I must tell you that you are really a brat!" Hayate could not help herself but reprimand her friend. If she wasn't Nanoha and Fate's best friend, she will not pry on their problems but it was her duty to get them together. She knew that if the two could not fix it soon, how will they gonna survive the complication of their relationship in the future?

Placing her left hand on her chest, feeling the pain of longing for Fate she said to herself "Fate-chan, deep down I could never hate you and I will always love you. I wanted to fix our relationship, but I am so afraid to hear that you no longer want me. It has been a year already since we parted, do you still love me?" With all those thoughts in her head, Nanoha fell in her slumber during the trip.

 **Tell me what you think guys! Thanks for the new reviews!**

 **Also thanks for gakui for the suggestion.**


	10. First Meeting

**_Hello guys! I decided to write about the past and family background of Nanoha and Fate._**

 ** _I will divide it into 3-4 parts I guess._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I still don't own the MGLN characters._**

 ** _Part 1_**

 ** _Several years ago.._**

It was on the 31st of December, Takamachi Momoko, my mother together with the servants was so busy doing the preparations for the upcoming New Year's Eve dinner. The unfathomable joy is visible to my mother's face. After all, my father, Admiral Shiro Takamachi came home last night to celebrate the special occasion with us. My father is working under Japan's Naval force. He is a highly ambitious man, seeking for power so he has been prioritizing his job over his family. We never get along despite the fact that I am their only child. Maybe, he was disappointed by my birth since I am a girl. He preferred a son. For that, I am always doing my best just to be acknowledge by my father but it seems that my efforts were not good. I am just thankful that my mother is a kind and loving person. She has been giving me everything that I wanted.

But, tonight's New Year's Eve dinner will be more unusual. The guess will be arriving this afternoon and they are not just an ordinary people. Our guest of honor will be Precia Ingvalt Testarossa, the daughter of the late Emperor Claus Ingvalt and Empress Olivie Sagebrecht Ingvalt and the crown princess of throne. She's my mother's long time best friend since they were in high school. Everyone in Japan knows her as Precia Ingvalt since her late husband who was also my parent's friend has a lower nobility than her. He was part of an Imperial Army. He died few months after their wedding when his convoy was ambushed in Uminari City according to my parent's story.

Precia Ingvalt have two daughters. As what my mom had said, her oldest daughter was a year younger than me and both of us have the same hobbies. The other one was two years or more, younger than me. According to my mom, the daughters of Precia Ingvalt have different fathers.

My mother had given me instructions to get along with Precia's daughters. She said that they were so dear to her since they were the child of her best friend. But, this will be the first time that I will be meeting them due to some reasons that I didn't know. Maybe because both of my parents were so busy with their lives since my mother was also the CEO of the Shipyard Corporation of Japan which manufactures the ship and any vessels for the navy.

 _I wonder, what kind of princesses are they? I hope they aren't brats!_

I was playing on the snow together with my cousin Miyuki-neechan when our guess has finally arrived. It was already half passed five in the afternoon. As a child, I was expecting to see a grand entrance with a convoy of body guards upon the arrival of the princess in our mansion. But to my surprised, I have only seen a single car that was a black Mitsubishi Dignity driven by Precia Ingvalt. I went and stood beside my mom. We welcomed the guest as they get-off from the car.

There, I saw a tall beautiful woman with a long dark purple hair, purple eyes, pointed nose and small lips. She was wearing a woollen black winter coat with velvet ankle leggings. She carries herself with poise and dignity. No doubt, she's the crown princess, Precia Ingvalt. Beside her standing were two young girls, on her left side was the smaller girl with a blonde hair with bright crimson-coloured eyes, she possessed the eyes of an optimist. She was wearing a pink turtle neck cotton shirt covered by a pink wool cashmere coat and white winter leggings matched with a pair of white shoes. She looks adorable with her outfit. The younger girl was holding a small teddy bear on her right arm while she was hugging her older sister.

The older girl was wearing a yellow long sleeve cotton turtleneck top by a black coat, black velvet leggings and a black pair of boots. The looks of sophistication and elegance was radiating from her. I noticed that the eldest child of Precia Ingvalt has the same hair-color as her mother. But, she has those dark crimson eyes. She was staring off to us but it seems that she doesn't see anything. My eyes met her modestly downcast eyes. There was a sense of solitude that I felt from her facial expression. Despite of the melancholic look on her face, she is the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen in my life. I was never aware that I was already gawking at her.

"Oh, Precia! Welcome to our humble abode! It has been a long time since we had seen each other!" My mother, greeted the guest with a loving smile. She hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek.

"I am so glad that you had accepted our invitation, Denka." It was my father who had spoken as he kissed the hand of Precia.

"Thank you for your invitation. I am so pleased to see you again Momoko-chan. Shiro-kun. You look so well. Please, drop the formalities for now. I came here as your old friend! Haha!" Precia smiled at them then she turned her gazed to me.

"Oh, by the way Precia, this is my beloved daughter Nanoha-chan. You haven't seen her for a long time, right? She's nine years old, now. She's a year older than Fate-chan, right? Nanoha-chan, please greet our guest." My mother introduced me to Precia. I felt so nervous that I bowed inelegantly.

"N-nice to meet you, Denka! I'm Takamachi Nanoha!" I was stuttering. I keep my head low.

"Oh my, she acts like you when we were younger, Momoko-chan!" Precia laughed and approached me.

"This coppery hair, burning like a fire, these pair of expressive eyes, this beatific facial expression that I really love to see. This is definitely you Momoko-chan! Hmm. You are such a beautiful child, Nanoha-chan." It really felt so awkward when Precia caressed my face and hugged me in front of everyone. Her daughters looked up to me quizzically.

"Thank you so much Denka!" I responded to Precia with a shy smile.

"Precia. You can call me Aunt Precia, Nanoha-chan." I nodded as an answer.

"By the way, Momoko-chan, Shiro-kun, Nanoha-chan, this is Fate, my eldest daughter and Alicia my youngest. They are my two lovely princesses. My pride and joy. My daughters, please introduce yourselves."

"Good afternoon, I am Fate Ingvalt. Eight years of age. It is kind of you to welcome us to your humble abode, Admiral Takamachi, Momoko-san, Nanoha. It's an honor to meet you all." As Fate finish her introduction, she bowed her head gently. Her voice was gentle, formal and respectful. She has a stern look on her face. She is, of course, far too graceful and extremely genteel with her actions.

 _Fate… She's too serious and formal for her age. I wonder if we could get along. She's too stiff. I thought to myself._

"Good afternoon! I am Alicia Ingvalt Testarossa! Six years old! I love my oneesama very much! Pleasure to meet you all!" Alicia's eyes have radiant looks and has a bright smile on her face.. Her voice was filled with delight and great pleasure.

 _Oh, the younger princess is not too bad. She seems to be friendly and loving. I'm sure we can get along. I smiled._

 _"_ Oh, it's great to meet you too, princesses!" It was my father who spoked. Then he turned his attention to Precia.

"It seems that the two princesses have huge differences with their personality, Precia. Both of them seems to be reliable. You have trained them well." My father looked at me with a disappointed look on his face.

"Indeed, Shiro-kun. To become a fine princess one day, they have to undergo with a lot of strict training regimens and different lessons, every day. I wish one of them would succeed the throne in the future."

"Ara, what happened to Fate-chan's hair, Precia? Her hair was blonde when she was smaller right?" My mother inquired.

"Oh, that! Fate asked Linith to dye her hair. She had given me a headache. I already gave her a good punishment for that not to do it again. I cannot bring her to the palace with that hair-color. Oka-sama will surely be disheartened to me for being lax with Fate." Precia has a wolfish look when she stared at Fate. I gazed at Fate, she has a pained expression on her face.

"Oh my, that's bad! If not obtrusive Precia, rather than leaving her on your home, why not let Fate-chan stay with us for a while? She can play with Nanoha-chan. I am really looking forward for them to become good friends just like us. You are going to bring them in England soon, this might be a good chance for them." My mom pleaded for Fate.

 _How come she doesn't know that her mom will be displeased with her by dying her hair? She must be some kind of an idiot princess, I guess?_ I thought to myself. When I heard my mom pleaded for her to stay with us, I felt an excitement. We were anticipating for Precia's response since she was in deep thought.

"Well, that won't be so bad, Precia. The princess will be safe with us. We can take good care of her." It was my father who spoke to the princess.

 _Did I just hear my father spoke something nice?_ I was surprised when I heard of it.

"Hmm, I think that's fine. Fate can stay and play with Nanoha-chan." I saw Fate-chan's facial expression change. She was pleasantly surprised by hearing what her mother has said.

"Great! Thanks, Precia! Well then, let's go inside. The dinner will be serve in thirty minutes." When everyone was already inside, my mom had turned her gazed to me and spoke.

"Nanoha-chan, while we were waiting for the dinner, why don't you entertain our guest by playing them a beautiful piano piece?" My mom added.

"Oh, Nanoha-chan could play a piano? So, is Fate. She had been taking her piano lessons since she was five. This is interesting. Well then, Nanoha-chan let us hear your wonderful music." Precia looked at me with an amazed look on her face.

I looked at my father and he was giving me a cold stare. I sighed. I bowed in front of the guest. The two princesses were looking at me. I felt anxious not because I cannot play very well, but because I've heard that Fate-chan was also playing a piano. I am confident with my skills. I've been playing and practicing piano every day since I was six.

 _She must be looking for a perfection._ I thought to myself. _Nah! I'm older than her. Why am I so worried about this?_ My mind was debating.

I took a seat in front of the piano. I took a deep breath and started playing the piece "Fur Elise". It was the easiest classical piece that I knew how to play so I chose it. As when I finished playing the piece I stood up and take a look on our guest. I heard the small clap from Precia but then Fate and Alicia has a bored look on their faces. They seem to be disinterested.

 _Aaaah! I need them to noticed me!_ I thought to myself.

"I will play another piece again." I went back and sit down in front of my piano again. I looked at outside the window and saw that the snows were starting to fall again. I smiled as I remember a song from my favourite Disney animation movie.

 _I don't know if these two were watching animated movies but I'll give it a try._ I started playing the intro of the song "Love is an open door". I was hitting the lower keys with a jovial mood. My body was swaying from the rhythm of the song.

 _All my life has been a series of doors in my face  
And then suddenly I bump into you_

As when I was continue pressing the keys from these part, Fate stood up beside the piano. I smiled.

 _Oh! It's working! It seems that she knows the song._ I thought to myself. Then she suddenly sits beside me. I was surprised, I stopped tapping the piano keys for a short time and looked at her. Then I continued playing the notes.

 _I've been searching my whole life to find my own place  
And maybe it's the party talking or the chocolate fondue_

 _But with you...  
But with you_

 _I found my place...  
I see your face..._

 _And it's nothing like I've ever known before!_

As when I was about to hit the notes for the chorus part, Fate suddenly rammed the higher keys from right to left. I was startled for a while but then I continued playing the chorus from the lower keys while stepping on the sustain pedal. I decided to play the rhythm from the bass notes since Fate started playing the melody on the upper treble section.

 _Love is an open door!  
Love is an open door!  
Love is an open door!_

 _With you!  
With you!  
With you!  
With you!_

 _Oh, she's good. She can match up with my speed, rhythm and timing._ I smiled.

 _Love is an open door..._

I was about to hit the keys to enter to the next section when suddenly Fate-chan pushed me aside. I stood up and I was gasped in surprised. Fate instantaneously changed the song to "For the First Time in Forever"

 _The window is open!  
So's that door!  
I didn't know they did that anymore!  
Who knew we owned eight thousand salad plates?_

 _For years I've roamed these empty halls  
Why have a ballroom with no balls?  
Finally they're opening up the gates!_

 _There'll be actual real live people  
It'll be totally strange  
But wow! Am I so ready for this change_

 _Cause for the first time in forever  
There'll be music, there'll be light!  
For the first time in forever  
I'll be dancing through the night  
Don't know if I'm elated or gassy_

Her fingers flit across the keyboard on the lower bass as she was playing it in a fast tempo. I was stunned. I wanted to play the melody on the upper treble notes with her for that song but I couldn't just sync with her. She purposely played it just for a solo part. I was gawking at her and I could see that she was enjoying.

 _But I'm somewhere in that zone!  
'Cause for the first time in forever  
I won't be alone_

 _It seems that she wanted to have a piano duel with me. I can't lose here! Bring it on then! She mashed up the songs, alright I'm going to do the same!_ I smiled happily.

I didn't let her finished the chorus section when I pushed her aside the way she pushed me earlier. I was not able to control my force she was out balanced and fell to the floor. I started playing the song by tapping gently the piano keys on the upper treble section notes. I gawked at her while flitting the keys. She was gasping. She opened her eyes wide. I stick my tongue out then I smiled at her cheerfully.

 _Do you want to build a snowman?  
Come on let's go and play  
I never see you anymore  
Come out the door  
It's like you've gone away...  
We used to be best buddies  
And now we're not  
I wish you would tell me why!  
Do you want to build a snowman?  
It doesn't have to be a snowman_

I paused for a while and waited for her to react. I look at her again, I smiled at her and I moved myself a little on the right side of the piano bench. Giving Fate-chan a signal to sit and play the song with me. I saw her smiled back at me. It was the first time to see her crimson eyes glittered with stars. It was the most beautiful smile that I've ever seen! My heart was filled with happiness that I never felt before.

 _Do you want to build a snowman?  
Or ride our bikes around the halls  
I think some company is overdue  
I've started talking to  
the pictures on the walls  
(Hang in there, Joan!)  
It gets a little lonely  
All these empty rooms_

 _Just watching the hours tick by_

(Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock)

Fate-chan tapped the fall board as if it was the sound of a ticking of a clock. I looked at her amazed with what she had done. I never expected her to do that so I laughed. She looked at me in the eyes then all of the sudden she mashed up the song again! This time she started off on the bridge of the song "Let it go"! At that moment, she was rocking the lower keys heavily with a speed of light. Of course, I will not lose with her in the melody so I was flitting the higher keys magnificently. Both of us were already standing as our body was swinging together with the music that we were playing.

 _My power flurries through the air into the ground  
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around  
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast  
I'm never going back; the past is in the past_

 _Let it go, let it go  
And I'll rise like the break of dawn  
Let it go, let it go  
That perfect girl is gone  
Here I stand  
In the light of day  
Let the storm rage on._

 _The cold never bothered me anyway!_

While we were playing the song, we were exchanging glances and smiles with each other. Both of our fingers flew along the keyboard. Until we finished playing the last note.

 _What a kid! I almost not able to catch up with her! I manage somehow!_ I thought of myself.

I was lost in my thought when I felt Fate-chan's hand to mine. I looked at her, she was smiling at me. Melting my heart. She held my hand and pulled me to face our family. I was lost on our little world while playing the song that I almost forgot that I was supposed to be playing for the guest but ended up dueling with the princess.

"It's time to take a bow for our audience, Nanoha." Fate-chan whispered to me gently. I blushed with her simple gesture. She was still holding my hand. We made a bow gesture in front of our audience. We received plaudits from our family. Everyone was happy with our performance.

"That was an amazing performance, Nanoha. You played splendidly." Fate-chan has spoken to me.

"T-thanks, princess." I responded. I smiled at her cheerful while gently scratching my face.

"Fate. Call me Fate, Nanoha." She replied formally. _She's back to her genteel mode_.

"Thank you, Fate-chan. You too, you had played magnificently. I hope we can play like that again."

"Yes, we could, Nanoha." Fate-chan smiled at me.

"Oneesama, oneesama!" I turned around to see the younger princess. She was tugging my sleeve.

"Thank you for playing the music together with my oneesama. It was my favourite." I was surprised when the younger princess kissed me on my cheek. She smiled at me. Then she hugged Fate-chan.

The dinner went well that night. Precia and Alicia-chan already went back to their home for the New Year's Celebration. Fate-chan was left with us since mom pleaded for her to stay. I never felt so happy that night. I swore to myself, that I will do everything to make friends with the stiff princess.

 _This stiff melancholic princess that I didn't expect to give me a beaming smile gave me the most peace that I never felt, I must give her most of my time while she's here to break the ice between_ _us. There was something in her eye that bother's me so much. I must make her happy as well._ It was the resolve that I had promised to myself that night.

 **Niyahaha, I'm not really a fan of movie animation "frozen", but I was inspired by the music arrangement, and since Nanoha and Fate were still a small child, I made them play the song. LOL!**

 **I hope I was able to answer some of the questions from this chapter. If I had written it poorly, please let me know!**

 **See you again next time!**

 **Your reviews made me so happy. Thanks!**


	11. Marry Me, Nanoha

**Hey guys! I'm back! How are you doing?**

 **Disclaimer: Just writing for fun. I do not own MGLN.**

 **Part 2**

 **New Year's Day**

 **Fate POV**

I awake with a dull pain underlying a numbness in my right arm. I am enveloped by a sweet and flowery fragrance. Even when my eyes are still close, there was a feeling like I woke up in an unfamiliar room. The smell and fragrance were definitely not the scent of the room where I sleep every night. I placed my left hand on the bed and caressed the beddings gently, it has a different texture. The softness of the bed and pillow was dissimilar on what I was used to.

Despite the realization that I woke up in a strange room, there was a feeling of calmness and tranquillity that I had never felt before. Every day of my life, I always woke up filled with the thoughts of the daily pressures and strenuous activities. But, today the feeling that I felt was totally new to me.

I tried to move my body but I couldn't. It felt like the right part of my body was being enfolded by someone's arms and legs. I decided to open my eyes, my vision was sleep-blurred. I closed my eyes again and gently open it. I tried to rub away my sleep fogging vision with the fingers of my left hand. I saw a light that came from the window, enough to fill the darkness of the room. I look around the room, then I turned my gaze on the person who was lying next to me. She was cuddling me and her legs were enveloped to mine.

" _Aree? Who might this person be?" I thought to myself trying to recall where I was._

I fixed my eyes on the person next to me. The familiar silky auburn-hair, the sweet flowery fragrance that lingers on my nose, I gawked at those long-curled eyelashes, her small pointed nose, she have those red rosy cheeks that has a curving smile on her lips, breathing peacefully in her slumber.

" _Aree? Nanoha? Hmmm, she's smiling even in her sleep. I wonder what she's dreaming? Nanoha and Alicia-chan are alike, they both love to cuddle._ " I looked around and smiled when I realized that the bed was too spacious for us and yet, this girl prefered to stick beside me.

Last night, I was really surprised when I heard my mother agreed with the proposal of Momoko-san in letting me stay at their home which made me somewhat happy but I couldn't just believed it. My mother would never allow me and Alicia to play with other kids, especially when we are under discipline.

The other night, my mother whipped me on my legs and back due to my actions of dying my hair, she was really disappointed to me. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for Alicia-chan who asked me to do it.

I keep myself quiet, never tried to talk back or reason out while my mother was giving me my punishments. I couldn't risk to drag Alicia-chan being punished with me too, I would never wished that she'll undergo the same treatment as me. I doubt if she will be hit though. Mother adores her so much. She's a very sweet and loving child after all. Not that my mother doesn't adore me, but Alicia-chan was more favoured than me.

My mother was loving to both of us but she have those thundering velvet hands. Especially to me and as the older daughter of our house, she will always tell me not to disappoint her. That I have to be the best in everything that I do and she was looking forward that I will become responsible in my future duties and responsibilities.

I cannot express myself very well so in order to show my love for my mother, I will obey whatever she wanted me to do. I took all the trainings and lessons that she had arranged for me. My mother was aware with our strengths and capabilities so Alicia-chan has a lesser load than me since okaza knows that I am smarter than my imouto. And I was thinking that it would be for her best interest. I don't want her to feel that her life was robbed at a very young age due to our status and future responsibilities.

But, as a child, I do really wish to escape this kind of existence in the future. This luxurious and grandeur life that we are enjoying has a good price that we must pay as what our mom always says.

Nanoha and I played a lot of games until we drop, last night. She taught me how to play video games that surprisingly gave me an adrenalized vigor. First, it was a FPS or a First Person Shooter game that the auburn haired girl loves to play during her free time. We also played a virtual tennis game and just dance on her Xbox.

The way she swayed and moved her body has left me astonished and I was secretly wishing that I could also dance like she does. In addition, her cheery demeanor was infectious and I can't help myself to smile and laugh with her.

She keeps on telling me that I am so stiff with my actions and saying that I have to rest easy and be more casual when I am with her. Reminding me that, we were still children and must take pleasure of the time whilst we were still kids and stop acting like an adult.

I was busy feasting my eyes on Nanoha, when her eyes gently opened and caught me by surprise. Our gazes had met, there was a tenderness that was manifesting her eyes while she looks fixedly at me. Grinning a little she spoke in a hoarse voice "Good morning, Fate-chan. How long have you been giving me a steady intent look?"

I felt so embarrassed when I heard what Nanoha had just said. Blood rushed to my face and I was having trouble maintaining our eye contact so I averted my gaze away from her.

"G-good m-morning, N-nahoha. Aree, Na-nahoha! Y-you w-were cuddling at me, you were sleeping like a log! I couldn't just move my body and woke you up!" I responded to her and could not help myself but to stutter in panic.

Giving me a lopsided grin, she placed her palms on my cheeks and her face were too close to mine, she looked straight into my eyes. "Fate-chan, you look so cute when you are blushing. You're stammering too! Niyahaha! It's Na-no-ha okay? Not Na-ho-ha!"

"Would you please stop teasing me, Nanoha? I'm not b-blushing!" I covered my eyes with my right hand, feeling the heat from my checks, I pouted and said. "You just woke up and yet you are being a tease! Get off of me this instance!"

"Mou, Fate-chan you're so unfriendly this morning! After all the games we played last night, I thought we were already friends!" Nanoha got up, pouting in a peppy manner and sat o

"Hmm, my body felt numb now because you were heavy. I don't want to sleep beside you anymore." I didn't know why, but I am having the feeling of enjoyment whenever Nanoha was so close to me.

Grabbing my left hand, Nanoha looked at me with a wide eyed expression, "Ne, ne, Fate-chan, let's play again! Hayate-chan will be coming today! She said, she can play with us! I'm sure you can be friends with her too!"

"Who could be that person, Nanoha?" I asked her curiously. " _I just wanted to play with Nanoha alone."_ I thought to myself, feeling a little sad not wanting to share Nanoha's attention with other kids but I couldn't not tell her that. She might hate me for that.

"Hayate-chan is my childhood friend. We have been friends since I was five. She's a funny yet a very naughty girl. She's also down to earth. She's the niece of Admiral Gil Graham of the Royal Navy." Nanoha replied happily while playing with my fingers.

"Don't worry! Hayate-chan is fun to be with, I can assure you that. Just let your guard down, my stern little princess". Nanoha added when she had noticed that I didn't respond to what she had said.

"Good morning! Arise and shine ojou-sama's. It's already half-past seven. Time to get up and take a warm shower. The breakfast will be ready soon." Miyuki-san, Nanoha's cousin entered the room as she spoke and opened up the curtains.

"Good morning, Miyuki-san." I bowed my head politely to greet the older girl.

"Miyuki-neechan! Good morning! Are mom and dad going to eat with us this morning?" Nanoha inquired happily.

"I'm afraid that uncle Shiro wouldn't be eating with us today, Nanoha-chan." Miyuki pause for a while "He left the mansion, last night. But, do not worry, Aunt Momoko and I will be eating with you today. Hime-sama is here with us too."

Hands on her hips, the older girl smiled "In addition, after we eat our breakfast, we will be having a Mikami-style sword training." Miyuki patted Nanoha's head. I saw a glimpse of sadness from Nanoha's face but then she brushed it off with a silly smile which made me wonder. " _What's up with that smile?"_

Nodding in disagreement, Nanoha protested "No, no, no! Miyuki-neechan! It's New Year's Day! I wanted to play with Fate-chan the whole day!" Nanoha wrapped her arms around my waist and said "Hayate-chan will be coming too. We are going to play until we are exhausted! Pretty please?" Nanoha hugged me tightly from my back and made me her human shield. She was pretending to make a face.

" _How can be this girl be so stubborn? She's acting like a brat." I raised my brows and thought to myself._

"We will be waiting for you in the breakfast room, Nanoha-chan." Miyuki dismissed Nanoha and stood in front of us.

"Mou, Miyuki-neechan! You're no fun!" Nanoha sulked.

"Hime-sama, is there something that you would like me to do for you?" Miyuki-san asked me politely, ignoring Nanoha's complaints.

"No. Thank you for the kind offer. I appreciate it, Miyuki-san. Nanoha is with me, she said she'll help me." I courteously declined her offer. She nodded respectfully then she left the room. "I'll be taking my leave then, Hime-sama."

"Ne, Fate-chan, let's take a shower together! I'll wash your hair and scrub your back!" Nanoha offered enthusiastically.

" _Wow, this girl is amazing! How can she just change her emotions so easily?" I wondered how she did it._

"Pardon me? What did you just say?" I asked her politely, trying to make sure, I heard it mistakenly.

"Oh, I said, let us take a shower together. I will wash your hair and scrub your back. Of course, you will do the same to me." Nanoha spoke slowly making sure that I was able to grasp what she said.

"Do not, Nanoha." I raised my eyebrows not wanting to give in to her request.

"Do I look like a maidservant to you?" I responded to her coldly, how could she thought that I want to brush her back? The idea was tempting though but.. " _I cannot let her see it!" I thought to myself._

 _"_ Why not, Fate-chan? Of course not, your highness! Heika! Denka! Hime-sama!" Nanoha asked curiously while smiling at me. Her beautiful and expressive sapphire eyes were looking at me inquisitively.

"Why not, you said? I don't like someone invading my personal space. In addition, why do I have to scrub your back and wash your hair in return?" I averted my gaze from her. I looked around the room. It was filled with stuff animals and toys.

" _With all these stuffs inside her room, it seems that she's really a spoiled brat. What she wants, she gets. Oh well, she's the sole heir of Takamachi's. Their family might be a demoted to a commoner status but certainly, they are incredibly rich."_

"Mou! Fate-chan, why are you so cold? We're friends! It's fine to wash each other's back! Niyahaha! Now, come on! Let's take a shower together!" She was tugging me forcefully on the way to the bathroom.

" _This girl has a powerful grip, I couldn't escape! She's also taller and bigger than me. What should I do? I cannot let other people see my bruises and contusions in my back!"_

"Would you please, let go of me, Nanoha?" I asked her in a gently hoping that she'll stop.

"Fate-chan, there's no harm in taking a shower together! Haven't you experienced this kind of thing? It's fun you know!" Nanoha gave me a wide grin on her face. " _This girl is so persistent! She has a beautiful smile that made my heart fluttered but she's so annoying right now."_

"Stop this and let go of me or I will order your execution, Nanoha. I'll have your head cut." A rough voice escaped from my throat. Nanoha stopped tugging me. She was gasping in surprise and her eyes widened, her lips were curved in a mischievous smile. Then she laughed at me

"Execution? Niyahaha! Did I hear it right, Fate-chan? So, the princess will order my execution because I am being forceful to her? Nyahaha! You're unbelievable, Fate-chan! How can you say that at your age? Oh my! The princess is being cruel to me!" Nanoha snickered and I could not understand why. "You know, my princess, I am the admiral's daughter, you can't just order for my execution! Come on! We're going to take a shower together." Nanoha declared happily.

I facepalmed when I've realized that she won't stop. Her persistence were starting to get in my nerves. "Nanoha, don't you have an idea on what situation you are putting me on? You're a bit pushy."

"Niyahaha! Mou! Don't be so grumpy Fate-chan. It's so early in the morning! Now, stop struggling and come with me." The game of tag continues as she keep on tugging my wrist whilst I was resisting.

"You always get what you want, don't you Nanoha? What a stubborn child." I lowered my head.

"Yep! I always do and get what I want! And both of us were still a child! It's fine to be like this!" Nanoha gave me a wide grin. I sighed defeatedly. " _What should I do now? I cannot let her see my back. She might tell her mother_!"

I was busy thinking of solutions to escape in this difficult situation when Nanoha forcefully tried to undress me while she chortled in her own thoughtless actions. It was a bolt from the blue that I just gasped on what she did. My eyes were opened wide, slacking jaws. All of a sudden, It finally registered to my mind what had just happened. Some of the buttons of my pajamas dropped on the floor. I clenched my fist, I took a deep breath as I was trying to be more patient to her. Then I spoke "You really want to take a shower with me, don't you Nanoha? Fine then. Let's take a shower together to conserve more water."

I gave her a brooding look. I grabbed her wrist and stormed off towards her cosy wooden designed bathroom. "Nyahaha! I never thought that you were the submissive type, Fate-chan. I love it!"

"Yes, I am. Now, should we take the warm shower? We have to hurry. Your mom and your cousin are waiting for us in the breakfast room, don't they?" I said coldly. I started to undress my clothes. When I am done removing my pajamas, I stepped on the shower cabinet left Nanoha dumbstruck as I intentionally showed her my bruises and contusions. It felt so awkward in my part, but she had left me no choice. " _If this girl will pity and say something gross to me, then I cannot trust her." I said to myself._

"What's with the pop-eyed look, Nanoha? Were you surprised on what you had just seen?" I asked her and she didn't respond. I look intently on her sapphire eyes, seeing the graved look on her face and was not able to fathom what she was thinking, I lowered my head. She kept silent so I decided to start taking a quick shower. I didn't wait for her to wash my hair and my back as what she declared earlier. When I'm done, I got passed through her and started to put on my clothes and tied my hair in twin tails with my black ribbons.

" _She was unable to speak. She didn't even try to move. I wonder what she was thinking. Maybe she was disturbed by what she had seen. I'm sorry, Nanoha."_

The traditional Japanese breakfast that was prepared by Momoko-san was extremely delectable. It was consisting of steamed rice, miso soup, grilled salmon fish and various side dishes like Japanese pickles, dried seasoned seaweed, natto, and some vegetables, and green salad. Even though, I lose my appetite earlier, I was able to eat a lot.

During the breakfast, Nanoha was talking at Momoko-san and Miyuki-san enthusiastically as if nothing happened earlier. She was able to maintain her spirited voice while conversing with her family. Her sparkling lavender eyes and her radiant smile never failed to attract me. There were times our gazes met then Nanoha will just avert her eyes away from me. I was watching all of her actions and gestures the whole time, wondering how she manage to change her mood so easily.

Momoko-san keep on asking me, why I was quiet during the meal. I just told her that she must not worry about me, that I was just thinking a lot of things. Luckily, she bought my excuses and didn't bother me again.

After Nanoha's sword training with Miyuki-san, the door of their library where I was waiting for her opened, as she had said before she went on to the gym that I should wait for her there since I declined to observe her sword practice. I was sitting on a leather-upholstered chair while I was reading a picture book about the life of the animals in the wild when she arrived.

"Fate-chan…" Nanoha called my attention. Her voice was gentle. Her usual cheerful smile and mischievous eyes cannot be seen. She stood staring at me with unblinking eyes. I closed the book I stood up and faced her.

"Fate-chan, I sincerely apologize for being so inconsiderate of you earlier." Nanoha gently hold my face and look at me intently. I didn't move, instead I look at her straight in her eyes while I listen to her earnestly.

" _Aree, she's apologizing? I thought to myself."_

"I shouldn't have done it to you. It was so selfish of me pushing you to that extent. However, it doesn't change on how I see you as a person. I don't care if you are a princess or whose house where you came from. To me, you are a friend. A very important one. Those bruises and contusions on your legs and back.. It signifies on how tough you are in facing life at such a young age. Despite of having a small and frail body, you always act like an adult and pretend as if nothing worst had happened to you."

" _This girl speaks like she understood my pain. As if she can read me like a book. Also, she keeps on telling me for a hundred times that I am her friend, but what exactly a friend is?"_ I keep on asking myself. " _We were only taught that when we get older, we will marry someone from the royal family. And to marry someone means that you will always be together, forever. This girl makes me feel so happy and untroubled. She delighted me in all her ways, in whatever she does. I want to be with her always."_ I was so busy pondering on what had Nanoha said when she suddenly embraced me.

"I am so sorry, Fate-chan. Don't be angry with me. To be honest, I never felt so happy when I met you. Not because you are a princess but because you are Fate-chan. The girl whom I played piano with, the one who stayed up late with me last night, playing video games. Most of all, the one who has the most beautiful and radiant smile in the world." I blinked so many times when I heard what Nanoha just said. I was not able to understand everything that she had said, but I know that she was sorry and was happy with my company. It made me felt so happy to hear the words that she had said. All the worries and anxiety were gone.

"You are already forgiven, Nanoha." I responded to her with a smile in my face.

"Areee? That was fast, Fate-chan! I thought you are going to make me struggle first! Nyahaha!" Nanoha gave me a surprised look.

"Nanoha.." I turned away my eyes from her. Then I continue to speak, "I don't exactly know what a friend is, I was not able to grasp everything that you had just said, but you also made me so happy, I want to play and be with you, for always." I was fidgeting then I took a deep breathe. I look at her pleading and said.. "Marry me, Nanoha."

"Oh my, Fate-chan, w-wait! W-what?! W-what did you just said?!" Nanoha raised her voice giving me a wide-eyed expression, her lips were opened wide.

"Aree, why are you giving me that reaction Nanoha?" I asked her innocently.

"I said, M-mar—"

"Nanoha-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! I'm heeeeeeere! Come on let's go and plaaaay!" The door suddenly opened with a loud squeak from the chestnut-haired girl, with a deep seated blue eyes wearing a raccoon printed pink sweater.

"How dare you interrupt me while I am speaking with Nanoha, you ill-mannered and insolent raccoon!"

"M-maah, maah! Ehh toh.. Fate-chan, don't be like that. This is Hayate-chan, I told you she will come and play with us, today right? Nyahaha" Nanoha scratch the back of her head.

"Ajaaaja! Who is this gallant girl who asked you to marry her, Nanoha-chan? And why are you blushing?" The raccoon girl has a sly smile on her face.

"Mou! Hayate-chan! I-I'm not blushing! And how long have you been here!" Nanoha responded awkwardly. I wonder why.

"You're stammering! Nyahaha! Hmmm, I just arrived when this gallant girl asked you to marry her! Nyahaha!" The raccoon girl giggled. Afterwards, she hugged Nanoha tightly. "But, you're my wife Nanoha-chan!"

"Stop teasing me, or I'll kick you out from this house Hayate-chan! And you are not my wife! Get off of me!"

" _Wife? What is she talking about?" I raised my eyebrows._

"Oh! right, I need to introduce you to Fate-chan properly." Nanoha continued.

"Hayate-chan, this is Fate Ingvalt sh-"

"Ingvalt?!" The raccoon girl exclaimed. "You mean, this gallant girl who asked you to marry her is no other than princess Fate Ingvalt?! Oh my! You're so lucky Nanoha-chan! I want to have a princess too!" The raccoon girl shook Nanoha's shoulder in a dramatic way.

" _What are these two talking about? I can't read between the lines! These girls are draining my energy now." I facepalmed._

"Heya princess!" The tanuki gestured a salute to me. "I'm Yagami Hayate, let's get along! Call me Hayate or Hayate-sama! Tee-hee!" The raccoon girl gave me a warm and pleasant smile.

" _This girl seems to be forgiving. She didn't mind what I had said to her earlier. I guess it's not bad to get along with this hyperactive raccoon girl."_

"Fate Ingvalt. If you wish to call me Fate, then I guess that wouldn't be so bad. However, if you are going to interrupt me while I am speaking, you will not be forgiven." I warned her.

"Ajajaja! Fate-chan enough with the silly talk! Nanoha-chan, let's get out of here!" Hayate grabbed our wrists and dragged us outside the library.

"I'm going to show both you as I unleashed the power of my newly developed Ragnarok and Diabolic Emission technique in tennis!" Humming a little she continued "I'm going to outmatched your Divine Buster Nanoha-chan! Ajajahaha!"

I let myself being dragged by this raccoon girl together with Nanoha. When I turned my gaze to the copperhead her face was flushing red. I smiled at her innocently as I uttered something only us could understand, a wordless whisper, the words "Nanoha, please marry me" formed in my lips. I knew in the world that she was able to understand it. I knew it. As a reply, her lavender eyes sparkled and she smiled at me broadly and it made me so happy.

When the three of us arrived on the compound, I was completely astonished by sight that was revealed to me. The design and the set up was eye-catching. As I have seen that there is a sports barn with a full size indoor tennis court. The compound also has a gym, Dojo and a yoga studio. The interior has wooden walls that gives off a pleasant and warm look. It has the texture and feel of the natural outdoors inside by way of the wood panelling in ways that feel fresh and inventive.

"Yey! We're here!" The raccoon girl exclaimed as she runs to the court.

"That girl is hyperactive." I spoke to Nanoha.

"Nyahaha! Yeah! She's always like that! She's a nice girl though."

"Nanohaaaa-chaaaan! F-faaaaaaaaate-chaaaan! Hurry! Stop talking and let's play!" The raccoon girl called our attention. The excitement was visible on her face. She was waving her right hand to us.

"Mou! Hayate-chan is so impatient. Neh, Fate-chan, do you know how to play tennis?" Nanoha asked.

"I do. I play with Alicia-chan but it's more like we are just exchanging our strokes. Most of the time Alicia-chan will missed hitting the ball. She's very young but she's always eager to play with me." I chuckled.

"Oh! The younger princess looks up to her oneesama. Last night, she doesn't want to let go of you. She cuddles you like a stuff animal. When they about to go home, your little sister has the exhausted droop on her shoulders. She was trying to hold her tears."

"Yes, I bet she cried a lot last night. Alicia-chan, she was really clingy. I'm sure she will be moping around the whole time that I wouldn't be by her side. I wish she's here with us today. If she had been with us today, she wouldn't feel dejected. Surely she will enjoy playing with Nanoha and Hayate." I sighed.

"You are such a responsible oneesama, Fate-chan. Don't worry, there are still many chances that we can play with her, right?" I smiled half-heartedly. Nanoha handed me a tennis racket.

"Fate-chaaaaaaan!" The raccoon girl shouted at me as she hugged me from my back. Her high-pitched voice reverberated around the court.

"Mou! Stop chatting with Nanoha and come with me Fate-chan! Your face is so serious. Let's play ball! Nanoha-chan will not stop asking you questions! Move your body and less talk! I'm going to show you my special move! Nyahaha!" I was surprised by the sudden embrace of the raccoon girl. All of the sudden, she tugged me to the court whilst she was sticking out her tongue to Nanoha.

"Hey! Hayate-chan! Don't just pull Fate-chan away from me!" Nanoha separated me from Hayate's side. She put her arms around my body and said "She's mine!"

"Hai, hai! Nanoha-chan. She's yours. All yours! Nyahaha! I know, what Nanoha-chan wants Nanoha-chan gets! Now, let's play the ball!" The raccoon responded in an adenoidal voice.

I doubled facepalmed. _I couldn't just believe these two. First, I don't have any idea about the special moves that Hayate keep bragging about. Second, this two seems to have their own Language when they speak with each other. Third, Nanoha will just suddenly claim me as hers like a stuffed animal. Lastly, I hope that they will not teach me to do actions that could be embarrassing._

"Neh, Fate-chan. Let's hit those empty tin cans by smashing the tennis ball to it." Nanoha said happily.

"Ajajaja! Well then, I'll start first! Behold!" The raccoon girl declared. She tossed the tennis ball and shouted. "Ragnarooooooooook" whilst she hit the ball to the target. Hayate pouted when she didn't hit the target.

" _W-whaaaat?! This is what the special move she's talking about?!" I sighed in disbelief._

"Niyahaha! Hayate-chan! That was an incredible attack! But your aim was terrible!" Nanoha laughed out loud.

"I'll show you my new technique! Watch and learn, Hayate-chan!" Nanoha took a deep breath. Her face was calm, her grip on the tennis racket was relax. She tossed the tennis ball and send it straight to the empty tin can as she shouted her "Excellion Busteeeeeeeeeer!" "How's that Hayate-chan? Amazing right?! Niyahaha" Nanoha proudly declared.

" _I couldn't just believe on what I had just seen and heard! It was given that Hayate was mindlessly doing and saying random things, but Nanoha.."_ I could not think of any words to say.

"Ajajaja! It has appeared to be that your prodigious skills have left Fate-chan astonished, Nanoha-chan! However, I won't lose to you! Gaze upon my super powers!"

Hayate tightened her grip on her tennis racket, she tossed the tennis ball higher than usual, her left hand remained elevated while she waited for the right timing, hit the ball send it straight to the centre of the targets when she shouted "Diiiiaaaboliiiiiiic Emissiiiooooon!" "Oyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I did it! I was able to hit it!" Hayate jumped in excitement!

" _How did I end up being caught up in this crazy situation? I wanna go home now. I've got a bad feeling about this."_

"Hoho, Hayate-chan! You're lucky to hit the target! Niyahaha! Too bad, your Diabolic Emission is nothing compared to my breaker. Look upon the stars Hayate-chan!" Nanoha tightened her grip around the racket. I noticed that she tossed the ball with her right hand. _Aree, Nanoha-chan is left handed?_ Then she gathered all her strength on her legs to jump when she shouted "Staaaaaaaarliiiiight Breeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaker! Her loud voice echoed repeatedly on the court. I was stunned on how Nanoha send the ball straight on the empty tin can while she made the jump serve.

"Ajaaa! No fair Nanoha-chan! How can you do that! Teach me, please!"

"That was an unbelievable shot, Nanoha!" I shouted in surprised. Hayate and Nanoha looked at me with a wide grin on their faces.

"Yes, indeed my princess. Now, it's your time to shine to show us your magnificent powers!" Hayate spoke in ringing voice whilst gesturing her hand towards the target.

"P-pardon me?" I replied nervously.

"Hayate-chan said, it's your time to hit the tin cans, Fate-chan." Nanoha smirked and looked at Hayate, then she turned her gaze to me. "In addition, please mention the name of your skills like we did."

"But, that was embarrassing, Nanoha. Please, spare me from that." I look at hear pleadingly hoping that she'll not forced me to do what they did.

"You could not Fate-chan?" Nanoha looked at me with a puppy face. "I thought Fate-chan wants to marry me, but she can't fulfil my request with this?" Nanoha said in a dejected voice. Her eyes were downcast, she looked down on the floor.

" _What should I do? Nanoha looks so sad."_

"Oho, Fate-chan, please don't make Nanoha-chan sad. Don't you feel guilty about it?" Hayate spoke in a mournful voice.

"Okay." Was all that I could say.

I saw Nanoha's face brightened when she heard me. I took a deep breath, gathered all the courage that I could gather from my chest. Mentally prepared my mind and convinced myself that it will just pass. I took the tennis ball and positioned myself to strike. I tightened my grip to the racket. I turned my gaze to Nanoha, she was smiling at me. Reassuring me that it was fine to do it.

" _I guess, it's fine. I encouraged myself. As long as Nanoha is happy, I'll be glad to do this."_ I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the surroundings. Remembering on how Nanoha hit the ball properly. " _I should just follow what she did."_ I straightened and relaxed my body. Took a deep breathe before I tossed the ball up high in the air. It was like a slow motion as when I was waiting for the right timing to hit the ball, I shouted "Plasmaaaaa Zanber Breakeeeeeeer!" I sent the ball straight to the one of the tin cans that I aimed. When I realized that I hit the tin can, I jumped and thought to myself. " _I did it! I hit it! That was so satisfying! So, this is how they felt when they hit the target!"_

"That was an extremely fast shot, Fate-chan!" Nanoha hugged me from my back happily.

"Ajajajaa! That was an astounding shout, Fate-chan! Niyahaha your voice was a little deep though!" Hayate was laughing so hard whilst saying those words to me.

As when I realized what I did, blood rushed to my face. It was so stupefying to remember what I did earlier. I sat down and covered my face with my two hands due to embarrassment and castigated myself.

" _It was mortifying. I want to be eaten by the ground at this very moment. I wanna die."_

 **Niyahaha! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Poor Fate-chan, stuck with these two adorably crazies. Please let me know what you think!**


	12. Keepsake

**Authors Notes: Whoa! It has been almost three months since the last update! Sumimasen! Finally done with this chapter! I hope you guys enjoy the fluffs!**

 **I'm changing the POV's and has started re-writing the previous chapters to make it better. Please be patient with me! Arigato!**

 **Also, I would like to dedicate this chapter to my beloved onee-chan, phoenixnext Daisuki! and the oni"chan, elfbs who were so patient with me.. lol ya know what I mean. Thanks for smacking my head! hahaha! ofc, to our adorable theforgottenpen. Woah! I am so glad to have you all!**

 **To those who are reading this note and wondering who're these peeps, gosh! You must start reading their awesome NanoFate stories coz you guys were missin a lot! If you don't know where to find them, you can use the names mentioned above as a tag search in google! :D**

Here it goes!

Part 3: Takamachi Mansion

As the days went by, the relationship between the girls had grown into a strong friendship. Nanoha and Hayate never stopped railroading Fate until she had gotten used to the ridiculous behavior. The princess was able to accept the way her friends shanghaied her to do something that was out of her character. She had also learned how to get along with the two hyperactive girls and was able to loosen up herself. With her two newly found friends, the young princess felt like she had discovered the joy of running through the forest. The pleasure that she has been feeling since she met her friends was incomparable especially when she was alone with the auburn-haired girl.

One chilly afternoon, the three of them were inside the auburn-haired girl's room, not able to think of a new game to play, Nanoha decided to sit down with Fate trying to mellow out on the sofa. However, the boredom was visible on Hayate's face as she was impatiently walking in circles.

"Ne, ne Nanohaaa-chan! Fate-chan! Let's play hide and seek today!" Hayate paused and faced the princess and the auburn-haired girl as she blurted out her suggested game with an earnest expression on her face while cheerfully waggling her arms. Fate was sitting on the floor, her back resting against the box cushion, reading a picture book while Nanoha was sitting on the sofa behind the girl gently brushing silky blonde hair. Both of them look up, turned their gazes to Hayate when they heard her speak.

"Mou! Hayate-chan! I don't want to play hide and seek today! I just want to stay here on the sofa with Fate-chan and do nothing!" Nanoha pouted thinking Hayate was being a distraction to her moments with Fate as she was feeling blue since she knew that the princess will be going back home soon. The younger girl looked up to the auburn-haired girl with curious eyes, wondering about the tone of Nanoha's voice.

Hayate snorted as she walked around the couch so she was standing behind her friend, frustratingly shook the auburn-haired girl shoulders causing the hairbrush to tangle in Fate's hair. "Nanoha-chan you're so boring! It seems that you are in low-spirits today."

Slightly turning her head to glare at the brunette who's brows were knitted together staring at her, Nanoha said forcefully "Hayate-chan! Careful! Do not just shake me like that while I'm brushing Fate-chan's hair! We could have hurt her head!" Nanoha anxiously inspected the young princess. "Look at this Hayate-chan! Mou! It's messy and tangled." Her voice was exasperated.

Frowning at Nanoha, Hayate exclaimed "Ahhhhhhh! Nanoha-chaaaaan! You're so overprotective when it comes to Fate-chan! Just fix her hair already and let's play!" The brunette released her hold to Nanoha's shoulders then went to Fate and sat beside her. Snuggling against the princess's arm comfortably, the little raccoon rested her head on Fate's right shoulder "Fate-chan, Gomenasai! Please, tell Nanoha-chan to play hide and seek with us! Neh?" Hayate beseeched the princess.

Fate gently patted her head and smiled "It's okay Hayate. I'm not hurt or anything. Please don't worry." Her voice was soft.

The princess then gave Nanoha a soft tap on her leg, leaned back and looked up, giving her best puppy eyes she said "Nanoha, I wasn't hurt by what Hayate did. Let it slide for now. Go easy on her, neh?"

As the auburn-haired girl met her gaze she continued "Hmmm would you please tie my hair with my ribbons, now? When you are done, let's play hide and seek with this little raccoon." After she was done speaking, she put her left hand back on the brunette girl's head that was now laying on her lap. Her voice was gentle yet commanding.

Seeing the young princess's pleading eyes Nanoha sighed and nodded defeatedly as she said "Mou, Fate-chan! With those cute puppy eyes, it's hard to say no to you."

Nanoha paused for a while thinking what do, her right eye closed as she concentrated, when she made up her mind she spoke, "Let's play hide and seek then." Gently she pinched Fate's nose smiling at her playfully which caused the princess to smile, her crimson eyes sparkled with joy.

"But first…" Nanoha turned her attention to Hayate who was snuggling into Fate comfortably and said "neeeeeh! Ha-yaaaa-te-chaaaaaan." Smirking devilishly, pulling away the princess from her arms and said: "Please, don't snuggle so closely to my Fate-chan."

Laughing foolishly while scratching the back of her head, Hayate said "Ajahahaha, I don't know why, but Nanoha-chan seems to be spiteful to me today. Hehehe!"

Pouting at the auburn-haired girl Hayate continued "This is not fair, Nanoha-chan! You don't want to share Fate-chan with me! I want to snuggle and cuddle her too!" There was a teasing tone to Hayate's voice that made Fate giggle. She began wondering if she could sneak away with Nanoha to avoid Hayate's silliness. Or maybe it would be better to tease her back?

While playfully tapping her fingers on her lap, Fate spoke, "You never ceased to amuse me, Hayate. I'm really going to miss your tomfoolery and your racoon face." The princess reached out her hand to pinch Hayate's face.

Dropping her head Hayate spoke, "Moou! Fate-chan! Always calling me a racoon like that." Her shoulders sagged.

Hearing Hayate's complaint, Nanoha spoke "That's it! Hayate-chan! Because you are a racoon! Fate-chan likes animals, right Fate-chan?" Nanoha smirked, sticking out her tongue to Hayate as she waggled her head playfully.

Straight-faced Fate replied. "Indeed, Nanoha. I love animals. They are the most adorable creatures in the world."

Making a face at the older girl, Hayate exclaimed "You're a meanie, Nanoha-chan! You'll gonna pay for this someday! I must start compiling all of your embarrassing moments and expose them when we are older!" Faking her sobbed while dramatically wiping her invisible tears.

Ignoring the brunette, Nanoha spoke happily "Yosssh! Done with your twintails, Fate-chan!"

Fate gently stood up from her sitting position, shook off the lint from her skirt and turned her gaze straight to Nanoha's sapphire eyes and said: "Thank you, Nanoha." Speaking softly, she smiled.

A voice like a foghorn suddenly filled the room as the brunette haired girl spoke loudly "Yahoo! Now, we can play hide and seek! Let's play the rock, paper, and scissors first to decide who's going to be the monkey."

Laughing loudly the older girl spoke. "Niyahaha! You will always be the monkey Hayate-chan!" Nanoha pulled Fate closer to her, arms wrapped around her waist while leaning her head on the young princess right shoulder and with a silly smile on her face she continued teasing Hayate. "Fate-chan and I will always be the winner. Ne, Fate-chan?" Nanoha looked at Fate waiting for her response.

Feeling upset Hayate shouted "Ahhhhhh! Nanoha-chaaaan! Don't think about cheating! And don't try to deny it! It's written all over your face!"

Gently scratching her face, Fate glanced at the whining brunette with a brooding expression, seeing her friend pouting she turned her head to meet Nanoha's eyes and spoke. "Nanoha, play fair, neh? I really feel bad for Hayate when she's not cheating on a game."

Winking at Fate, Nanoha grinned. "Understood. If Fate-chan says so. I don't have to cheat anyway." Turning her attention to the shorter girl, she continued "Hmmm you're so lucky Hayate-chan, my Fate-chan is kind with the raccoons." Releasing Fate from her cuddle Nanoha straightened her body and face Hayate.

"Well then, I will be your opponent. I must tell you that your powers are not enough to defeat me. You better get ready!" Nanoha dramatically clenched her left fist then putting her arms behind her back as she looked straight at Hayate confidently.

Making a flashy pose, putting a v-sign with her right hand in front of her left eye, Hayate proudly spoke "Ho! Ho! Ho! Nanoha-chan. You really don't understand it, do you? I, Hayate Yagami claim that the battle of Aces will be my victory! Ha ha ha!" Hayate responded in a guttural tone.

Face flushing red, slack-jawed at the silly actions of her friends, Fate thought to herself loudly, 'Mou! These two!' Sighing in disbelief, left hand on the hips, the young princess thought, 'I have heard and seen something outrageous again. I feel so embarrassed just by witnessing their actions and words. Heavens! Please take me away from here.' Fate put her right palm on her forehead mentally groaning, 'I could never be accustomed to this.'

Facing off at each other placing one hand flat out in front, palm up Hayate and Nanoha shouted in sync "Paper, Rock, Scissors!" Nanoha decided to choose paper while Hayate chose rock.

Teary-eyed Hayate exclaimed "Mou! Nanoha-chan! Why do you always win this game! I want to win too!"

Shaking the upset Hayate while laughing Nanoha replied "Niyahaha, Isn't it obvious Hayate-chan? I'm the ace of the aces! There's no way you can defeat me! Besides, your timing was not in sync. I can easily read you like a book." Nanoha proudly declare as she let go of Hayate. Then she spoke gently, "You'll be in trouble if you will play with the other kids, Hayate-chan. I'll teach you how to do it properly next time, neh?"

The brunette smiled and said "Cool! That would be so helpful, Nanoha-chan! Daisuki!"

Pulling Fate closer holding her hand while smiling at her, Nanoha continued to speak pointing her fingers at Hayate, "Saaah, my princess it's time to release your full power to crush that hyperactive raccoon." in a playful voice.

Fate turned her gaze to Hayate who was mysteriously grinning while staring at her and the auburn-haired girl, she spoke "Ehhto, Nanoha don't be so harsh with Hayate. She's our companion. I will not use my f-full p-p-power just to crush her. N-neh? He-he-he!" Still holding each others hand, Fate smiled at Nanoha awkwardly.

Giving Fate a little whimper Hayate protested "Mou! Fate-chan! Why am I just a companion? And not a friend? You make it sound like I am an animal! I've got this feeling that both of you are collaborating with each other in bullying me. The princess finally learned her lessons from me but to my surprise, I am her first victim." Hayate exclaimed.

Thinking about her counter-attack to tease the older girl, Hayate bent forward where she sat on the floor, pressing her palms to the mat pretending to cry she continued to speak "Fate-chan and Nanoha-chan can't stop holding each other in whatever we do, wherever we go, Nanoha-chan's arms were always entangled with Fate-chan. Ahhhh! Hands entwined with each other! Always lovey-dovey even in front of my innocence! Are you-'' panicking on what Hayate's spouting, Nanoha rushed towards Hayate to cover her mouth not giving her a chance to finish her silly talk.

Eyes wide, face flushed in embarrassment Nanoha spoke rapidly, "Nyahahah, Hayate-chan was being so silly talking like that! No more silliness, let's play!."

Then giving the shorter girl a push she said, "You're the first monkey, Hayate-chan! Therefore you will be the seeker!"

Wondering what the auburn-haired girl and the hyperactive raccoon were spouting, Fate inquired while she walked towards the two girls "Nanoha, aren't we supposed to play Rock, Paper, Scissors first?"

Hayate chortled on Nanoha's reaction "Niyahaha, Nanoha-chan! There is something that I needed to ask you but I'll let it slide for now. We must start the game." The little raccoon turned her attention to the confused Fate, tapping the princess shoulders with her two hands gently she spoke, "Hmmm I don't mind being the seeker Fate-chan, as long as the three of us can play together I am happy! Nanoha and I want you to enjoy the time the three of us are together. Besides, Nanoha-chan won earlier. You two are inseparable, right? Technically, you already won!"

Fate looked inquiringly at Nanoha, who just shrugged her shoulders accepting what the brunette girl had said. Sighing with relief Fate spoke "I'm glad to know that you are happy when you are playing with me and Nanoha. But, are you sure about being the first monkey Hayate?"

Dragging the two girls by their wrists while walking towards the door Hayate spoke happily "Yaaah! Besides, you don't know the rules of hide and seek yet, do you? Let's get out of this room and start the game! Make sure you will hide properly, princess!" The singsong voice of the brunette haired girl filled the room.

Once the three girls were outside the room, standing in front of the door Hayate stated the rules of the game giving her attention to Fate, "This door will be our home base. For now, I will be the seeker. I will close my eyes for a brief period. When I am done counting 100, I will try to find the hiders which will be you and Nanoha-chan."

Hayate smiled when she saw Fate looking at her attentively listening, then she continued. "While the seeker is away, the hiders try to run back to the home base. If all the hiders return safely, the seeker repeats as a seeker in the next round. You got it Fate-chan?"

Fate nodded in agreement and said happily "Yes, Hayate! Got it! Thanks for explaining the rules!"

Laughing a little Nanoha said, "That was such a serious tone Hayate-chan!"

Shaking her head in disagreement, placing a hand on Nanoha's shoulder Hayate said in a honeyed voice, "Ho ho! Don't start the tease, Nanoha-chan." Grinning, the brunette leaned over to her ears, she whispered "Or do you want me to continue teasing you about your beloved princess Naaa-noha-chaan?"

Tilting her head, a raised questioning eyebrow on her forehead, Fate inquired "What are you doing Hayate? Nanoha? Don't you know it's rude to whisper in front of other people? Could you please stop that?" The two girls turned their gazes to Fate when they heard her reprimanding them. The auburn haired girl rubbed her neck feeling awkward at hearing the princess's statement.

Ignoring Fate, the brunette continued to mumble into Nanoha's ears in a humming tune "Oh my! Nanoha-chan, take a good look at your lovely princess. Innocently tilting her head, she doesn't have any clue what we are talking about. She even reprimanded us. Hmm, Isn't she adorable?" Tapping Nanoha's shoulder the brunette continued "Hmmm, I remember something. She asked you to marry her right? And you said yes, didn't you?"

Face crinkled in embarrassed bewilderment Nanoha suddenly grabbed Fate's hand and started running down the corridors, ignoring the squeak of dismay she hushed the beginnings of the younger girl's complaints with a gentle squeeze to their entwined fingers while loudly saying "S-start counting Hayate-chan!"

Fate sighed as she knew once more she was doomed to be dragged around like a rag doll according to the auburn-haired girl's whims.

The two girls sneaked in the library. Still holding each others hands, both of them were trying to catch their breaths as they slump onto the sofa. As when they'd recovered their normal breathing the older girl rested her back on the back pillows, eyes closed while smiling victoriously.

Wondering, the young princess sat next to her leaning over surveying Nanoha's face. Their faces were few inches apart enough to feel each other's breaths. As when the older girl felt Fate was drawing her breath on her face, she opened her eyes only to realize that the distance of their lips were short. The auburn haired girl cupped Fate's cheek, rested her forehead against hers while staring at each other intensely, slowly rubbing her nose against the younger girl.

Face flushed in red, the princess bit her lip and glanced away from Nanoha. Stuttering, the young princess spoke, "W-w-what a-are you doing, Na-ho, Na-nanoha?" Fate sighed nervously then continued "I thought y-you w-were going to k-kiss me." Her right hand was resting on her chest, her heart was pounding so hard.

Placing her arms around Fate's neck, the older girl giggled while her eyes were shimmering she spoke "You're so adorable when you are stuttering, princess! Nyahaha! Of course! I rubbed my nose to yours, Fate-chan! That is called an Eskimo kiss! So, we did it!"

Fate put her palms on her burning cheeks she couldn't help smiling with her eyes and mouth at Nanoha then she spoke "An Eskimo's kiss? What's an Eskimo kiss? Mou! You look so happy Nanoha! But please, don't give me a heart attack." Fate took Nanoha's hand pressing it on her chest. "Here, listen to this, my heart is pounding so hard now because of what you did."

Eyes wide, parting her lips slightly the auburn-haired girl tilted her head to see the young princess face she spoke "Areee? You too Fate-chan? It's the same feeling when I am with you. I always have a quick breath and it feels like my heart is about to burst!"

Leaning her head on the princess's shoulder she continued "It makes me feel so good though. my heart wants to dance and sing. Since I've met you, this is what I've been feeling especially when you are smiling. I always wanted us to be together and cherish every moment we have before you leave."

Nanoha paused for a while, thinking about the brunette with a silvery voice she continued to speak "Hayate-chan too, she was really happy when I introduced her to you. She may be doing a lot of silly talks most of the time but she also cares for you and considers you a friend." The older girl yawned pulling the young princess down with her to lie on the sofa cuddling her like a bear.

Surprised on what Nanoha did Fate turned her head to face the older girl she asked "What are you doing Nanoha? It feels so tight in here, get off of me please."

Lying down on her side while cuddling to Fate comfortably squeezing her face gently towards hers, Nanoha reached out her left hand putting her thumb to the young princess lips to hush her grumblings "Shhh. Fate-chan, I'm sleepy. I want to take a nap for a while. Tone down your voice, please. It'd be better if you will be a good girl and just keep quiet. It's kinda cold in here so I am keeping you warm by snuggling you so no complaints." Her voice was hoarse with exhaustion.

Nanoha's sapphire eyes opened and closed sleepily while she was trying to hush Fate. Her eyelashes were brushing against her cheek whilst nuzzling her nose against the fussy girl. Nanoha's auburn hair now inches from her nose allowed the Nanohalike scent to reach her, it was too good for words and made the young princess smile while she was staring at the ceiling. "But, we are still playing hide and seek Nanoha. Hayate, she's looking for us. It wouldn't be nice if you just sleep here."

"Hayate-chan will surely find us here. She knows where I always hide. Don't worry Fate-chan. It's almost 2pm and I am sure she's also sleepy. Knowing her, she's too smart not to figure out where we are hiding. She'll get in here soon. Trust me." As soon as Nanoha was done speaking her eyelids closed instantly falling into a peaceful sleep in the arms of her friend.

While Fate was feasting her eyes on the sleeping Nanoha, she started to yawn. Releasing all her current thoughts her consciousness ebbed, her mind went into free fall as her vision started to dim finally smiling as she drifted off to sleep.

Ten minutes had passed since the two girls fell asleep on the sofa when Hayate entered the library, carrying two blankets in her hands. Seeing Fate and Nanoha sleeping peacefully whilst cuddled up with each other the brunette smirked scratching her head playfully. "I knew it! The kind of dash they did earlier make them feel exhausted." Hayate leaned over to cover the two girls tucking them with a blanket. "These two idiots, sleeping here without anything warm to cover them will surely make them sick." Hayate sighed in disbelief.

Gawking at the sight of her friends she smiled thinking that the two look so adorable together and said "You really like her, don't you Nanoha-chan? You've never been so happy until the princess came into your life. I wonder if you have already realized the kind of like you feel for her. From now on, I'm gonna tease you a lot every chance I get." The brunette haired girl yawned. "Ah, just looking at them makes me feel sleepy. Maybe I should sleep too." Settling down on the other side of the sofa covering herself with a blanket her eyes drooped closed.

-**o**-

As her body twisted away from Fate, eyes fluttered open in shocked from her slumber as Nanoha realized she was falling. In her distorted perception, it was in a slow motion, stretching wide the second it took her to reach the carpeted floor from the sofa face down on the floor, covered with the blanket that fell off with her.

Making a noise of dismay and pouting a little she clenched her left fist punching the floor in a small tantrum only to realize she was being silly hurting herself more. Nanoha exclaimed in frustration "Ouch! That hurts! Stupid floor! Baka! Baka! Baaaka!" Floundering on the floor like a fish, Nanoha noticed the blanket.

Grabbing ahold of the cover ready to strike the floor once more when she heard a croaky voice asking her a question "What are you doing on the floor, Nanoha?" Fate's brain was still fuzzy, yawning while rubbing her eye with her left finger her hair was tumbling down her back like a waterfall.

Nanoha nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the young princess voice. Words failed to form in her mouth as she felt like an idiot with her actions. She stood up, tucking in Fate on the sofa caressing her hair to get her back to sleep. As soon as the princess fell back into her oblivion she smiled, gazing at the younger girl who was sleeping like a baby, Nanoha gently kissed her on the forehead. Then, she looked around, seeing Hayate sleeping face down on the other side of the couch without a pillow for her head. Nanoha sighed, grabbed one of the throw pillows and silently walked towards Hayate. Carefully lifting her head, she slid up the pillow below the brunette. "I hope this idiot won't get a stiff neck later." Leaning towards Hayate's ear Nanoha whispered "Thanks for the blanket, Hayate-chan."

Realizing that she was the only one who was awake, the older girl decided to head to the kitchen to ask the maids to make some afternoon snacks and drinks for the three of them. Leaving a note on the table containing:

"Fate-chan, Hayate-chan, if you wake up and I am still not around, do not go wandering off outside the library and just wait for me here. Getting some snacks for all of us!

Ps: Hayate-chan, please don't try to wake Fate-chan if you wake up first. Let her rest. Thanks!

Nanoha

-**o**-

Thirty minutes had passed when Nanoha came back to the library together with the two maids who were pushing a serving trolley filled with a variety of snacks such as dango, pockey biscuits, two castella pancakes sandwiched together with anko and whip cream and some choices of tea, milk and hot chocolate for the beverages.

Hayate was already awake sitting on a single armchair near the window reading a book while Fate was still sleeping soundly on the couch oblivious to what's happening around her. Nanoha walked towards Hayate, standing beside her, hands clutched behind her back as she was looking at what her friend was reading. There she saw a lot of photos of the night sky together with descriptions.

While continuously flipping the pages to another Hayate spoke "Tome of the Night Sky. This is one of my favorite books, Nanoha-chan. I have the complete set of this book at home but I couldn't find this volume in our library."

Hearing what Hayate said Nanoha smirked, speaking in a low stern tone she said "Baka-ne, Hayate-chan! That book is yours. You left it here months ago. Have you forgotten?"

The brunette haired girl closed the book, putting it on her lap while scratching her head facing Nanoha she said "Niyahahaha! Nanoha-chan! I didn't realize it was mine. I thought it was just the same book."

Raising her left eyebrow, gently poking Hayate with the index finger of her left hand on the girl's cheek Nanoha smiled, "You silly little raccoon! How can you not recognize the things that you own? Let me have that book first. I'll show you something."

Hayate handed over the book to the auburn-haired girl, as when she was already holding it, she opened the last page of the book and showed it to Hayate. "Look at this Hayate-chan, your initials are here. You can bring it back when you go home." Nanoha pointed out the initials H.Y. on the bottom part of the book.

The brunette pouted, her shoulders drooped when she heard the word home. "I'm not excited to go back home. That house is empty. Uncle Graham is not always around, and neither are the twins. Signum is busy with her military job. Shamal is a grown-up woman too. I cannot play with her." Hayate responded in a melancholic voice.

Nanoha placed her hand on Hayate's head, smiling gently to her, "Don't be sad Hayate-chan. This house is empty too. I cannot go outside either. You see, my dad seldom stays here and mom is busy with the company. Miyuki-neechan has classes too. I cannot play with other kids since I am studying at home just like you. So we are even! hahaha!" Tugging the shorter girl Nanoha spoke happily "Come on! I'll wake Fate-chan up so that we can start eating our snacks!" Nanoha walked over to the princess while grabbing ahold of Hayate. In just a few seconds, the two girls reached the sofa where the princess was sleeping peacefully, the auburn-haired girl sat down beside her head and started to poke the little princess softly on her cheeks, speaking gently she said "Fate-chan, Fate-chan! It's time to get up and eat our snacks, my princess."

Hearing the voice of the older girl, the princess stretched out her body like a lazy cat. Eyes were still closed, lying on her side with her head resting in the auburn-haired girl's lap, she wrapped her arms around Nanoha's waist to snuggle in and make herself comfortable in the warmth of her friend.

"Mou! It's hard to wake her up these days. She really feels safe when you're around, Nanoha-chan." Hayate spoke while filling a cup with milk. "I remember the first three nights I slept over here, Fate-chan was always the first one to wake up every morning and the last person to fall asleep at night." Hayate held up the cup of caramel milk in her right hand and winked at Nanoha.

Scratching her head in amusement, understanding what the brunette wanted to do the older girl smiled, thinking that the princess will be surely awakened by a small tease, "I guess, I'll just drink all the caramel milk since Fate-chan doesn't want to wake up, Hayate-chan."

The princess opened her eyes when she heard what Nanoha had said, smelling the sweet and thick caramelized flavored milk made her fuzzy brain come awake. Rubbing her face against the older girl's side, she moaned and spoke in a hoarse pleading voice "Na~no~ha, I want the caramel milk. Please don't drink it."

Hearing what the princess said, the two girls look at each other in a deadpan manner, trying to contain their laughter. The two of them knew that Fate would be so embarrassed when they start to laugh at her.

"Fate-chan, it's time to get off of me then. You can continue your sleep tonight little bear. Now, let's grab our snacks and drink our favorite hot drinks!" Nanoha's eyes lit up in excitement.

Fate released the older girl from her cuddle, firmly stretching her arms to Hayate while her gaze was fixed on the cup that the shorter girl was holding she spoke "Hayate, I want my caramel milk. Give it to me please."

Giving the princess a lopsided grin, waving her pointing finger in disagreement she said "Not so fast, Fate-chan. We need to sit down in chairs first, then I'll give this to you. Okay?" Fate nodded in agreement and scurried to sit in the chair without a single complaint. The three girls started to eat their snacks happily. Fate who was sitting beside Nanoha was silently eating her castella pancakes as she contemplated about the first time they had played tennis.

The brunette noticed that the princess was not saying a word since she started eating. Wondering at the silence of the younger girl, Hayate decided to ask her worriedly "Fate-chan? What's wrong? Still sleepy? Why are you so quiet?"

Leaning her right arm on the table, resting her chin on her hand Fate replied "I'm fine, Hayate. I was just thinking about why Nanoha named her special move 'Starlight Breaker'."

The auburn haired girl made a discreet cough, surprised by what she just heard from the princess. Rushing to get a drink, she accidentally took Fate's caramel milk and drank it all the way down. Realizing that the cup wasn't hers, she turned her gaze to the younger girl who was baffled by her actions, she immediately apologized and offered her own caramel milk. "I'm sorry Fate-chan, I thought it was my cup." Pushing the cup gently towards the princess she continued "Here's mine. You can have it. I haven't sipped on it yet."

Watching the blonde take the cup and take a sip she smiled at her. "As for your question my princess, I love the stars and the skies. They are astonishing! I also love to do stargazing. I've read some books about them but for me, stars made the night skies look magical." The auburn haired girl's eyes were shimmering while explaining "Even if it's dark, the tiny specks of lights can be seen even though they are millions of light years away from Earth. Every time I feel lonely at night, I will gaze upon them and I will no longer feel alone."

The young princess leaned forward to continue her inquisition "Why do stars twinkle then? What are light years?"

"Oh! Mom said stars do not twinkle. Light years? It's just the unit used to measure the distance from earth to other parts of the galaxy." Rubbing the nape of her neck, Nanoha started to feel uneasy. She knew that the princess will not stop asking her questions and she might not know how to answer properly.

Nose crinkled, confused about Nanoha's answer, Fate asked a repeated question. "If the stars do not twinkle, why do they twinkle every time I look at them?

"Let me answer that question, Fate-chan." Knowing that the auburn-haired girl might be having difficulties in explaining thoroughly to the princess, Hayate decided to butt in.

"What Nanoha-chan says is true. Stars in the skies do not twinkle. Let me ask you first, Fate-chan. Have you ever been out on a really hot day?" The brunette asked. The princess nodded and responded "Yes."

"Well, if you have Fate-chan, you may have noticed trees near the horizon is a bit wobbly or blurry. It looks strange, right? Something very similar is happening when we see stars twinkle in the night sky." Hayate explained, hoping that the princess could understand it without further explanations. Grinning a little, knowing that she just read this fact in a book a while ago.

Imagining what she had heard from Hayate's explanation, she smiled with her eyes sparkling Fate responded "Oh! Great! Now I understand! Thank you, Hayate, Nanoha."

Getting their socks knocked off by the young princess wits, the two girls exclaimed together "That was fast, Fate-chan!"

A raised questioning eyebrow formed on her forehead, wondering why the two girls were surprised she decided to ask "What's with the reaction? Am I not supposed to understand the explanation? Hayate? Nanoha?"

Pulling Fate closer, smiling to her as she was playing with the young princess's fingers Nanoha replied "No, Fate-chan. Hayate-chan and I were just impressed on how smart you are for your age. As you see, you're my little genius cuddle bear. So, don't think about it too much, neh?"

Looking at Fate's necklace, Nanoha asked: "Anyway, I am also interested about the lightning-shaped pendant of your necklace and why do you always wear that, aside from it looks great on you." The older girl deliberately changed the topic thinking that it would also be her chance to pry more into Fate's interests and life.

The younger girl touched her pendant, her mouth curved into a radiant smile that Nanoha loves to see "Oh, this necklace was given to me by my mom as a Christmas present. She knows how I love the lightning flashing in the skies especially during the thunderstorms. This is one of the most precious gifts that I have ever received."

"Aren't you afraid of lighting and thunder, Fate-chan?" Hayate asked.

Interested with what the princess had said, Nanoha followed up the question "Why do you love the thunderstorms, Fate-chan?"

Palms under her chin she replied "I love to feel the thunder, and watching the marvelous displays of the beauty of striking lightning holds me spellbound. It's frightening but it also gives me a thrilled feeling. It's an awesome show of the power of nature that encourages me to be strong and courageous." The young princess paused for a while, facing her friends she spoke in a serious tone "Hayate, Nanoha, when the time comes that you will feel lonely and sad, and there are no stars in the night skies caused by the storm, please do remember me." Stroking the pendant gently she smiled.

Understanding what the princess said, the two girls stood in awe. Hayate gave Nanoha a little push and spoke: "Can we have a group hug, please?" The auburn haired girl smiled and pulled the two girls to give them a big hug and said "Let's make a promise then, for the three of us! Fate-chan will be going somewhere far from here and we might not see each other again soon. That's a sad thing but we can always remember this day and that the three of us were together."

Fate bit her lip trying to suppress her tears, knowing that she will surely miss her friends, especially Nanoha. While Hayate wrapped her arms around the two girls, she sighed thinking that it won't be the same again by the time Fate left.

Stroking the hair of the two girls to make them feel at ease, the auburn-haired girl continued to speak in a fragile voice "When we feel blue, we must think that the stars will always be shining brightly in the night even if there's a frightening thunderstorm, the lightning will give us great courage and strength just as Fate-chan said. Even though the three of us will be separated into faraway places, the skies will always be our connection. We will always be friends!"

Nanoha paused, thinking about what kind of future will be there for the three of them, aware of their future responsibilities she sighed. The first tear broke free from her sapphire eyes to be followed by an unbroken stream she continued to speak, "We are all aware that we are not ordinary kids. We will be having a lot of responsibilities in the future. So, let's do our best to enjoy life while we are still growing. Hayate, Fate-chan we must do what normal kids do. We must sing and dance while we can; jump and play a lot, continue to dream, and hope that we can make all those dreams come true."

Breaking the hold, Hayate spoke trying to be jolly but failed to do so just by seeing Nanoha crying "I will join the promise! Enjoy life to the fullest!"

Gazing at her friends "Why are you crying, Nanoha?" Fate asked worriedly, wondering what made Nanoha cry she stretched out her hands to the auburn-haired girl's face, pressing her palms gently to her cheeks. "I promised that I will always remember you and Hayate. Don't be sad."

Teary-eyed Hayate butted in, "Silly Nanoha-chan, don't be a crybaby! We will just go and visit Fate-chan in the future. She'll come back to us! We can always exchange letters with her too."

Giving her friends a half-smile, the auburn-haired girl spoke, holding the princess hands on her face she said "We've got a promise then. We must send letters or communicate with each other."

Nodding in agreement, Fate answered "Of course, we will. I will ask Linith to help me communicate with you, Nanoha, Hayate."

Knock, knock, knock! A slight sharp sound got the attention of the three girls. To their surprised, the door opened revealing Miyuki and the silvery brown-haired woman wearing a beautiful smile on her face entering the library. As soon as Fate saw the woman she immediately hid from view behind Nanoha's back while strongly gripping on the girl's hand which made her wonder.

Knowing what it means for the silvery brown-haired woman to suddenly showed up in Takamachi's mansion, Fate felt something was squeezing her chest.

"W-what's wrong Fate-chan?" glancing sideways, sensitive to the younger girl's reaction just by seeing their guest, Nanoha asked to confirm her apprehension. Fate did not answer but instead, she just held her breath.

"Are you okay, Fate-chan? You look pale." Putting her hand to the princess' forehead, Hayate asked worriedly. The princess buried her face against Nanoha's back not wanting to answer their questions.

The silvery brown-haired woman, walked towards the girls, seeing how the princess was reacting made her realized that she was in distressed and didn't appreciate her presence. Knowing that the well-behaved princess will not complain, she also knew that it would hurt her so much to say goodbye to her friends.

Miyuki stood up beside the silvery brown-haired woman and introduced her to the girls "Nanoha-chan, Hayate-chan, this is Linith-san. Personal aid and bodyguard of Fate-sama. She came here today to pick up the princess."

"Linith-san, this is Nanoha-chan, uncle Shiro's daughter and Hayate-chan, Admiral Graham's niece."

"Good afternoon Nanoha-sama, Hayate-sama. Thank you for taking care of the princess." Bowing her head, Linith greeted the girls.

Nanoha slightly bowed her head, gaze fixed on the woman, tightening her grip on Fate's hand, she took a deep breath and spoke, "Why? It's too soon! We haven't played so much yet! Don't take Fate-chan away from us today, please!"

"Yes! Please, do not take her back now." Hayate second the plea.

"I must apologize ojou-samas but I'm afraid I can not fulfill your request. This is an order from the crown princess." Linith responded.

Hearing what Linith had said, not wanting her friends to plead knowing that her mom's order was absolute, Fate broke her hold to Nanoha's grip and walk towards her personal aide she spoke: "Are my things ready, Linith?"

"Everything was ready before we came to the library, Fate-sama." Linith replied.

"We can go now then." Fate responded without looking back at her friends.

Perceiving what the princess meant, Nanoha exasperatedly sighed, pressing her lips together annoyed at how Fate easily gave in to the order, she took a grip on Fate and Hayate's wrists and started to dash towards her room leaving the two adults with their mouths opened wide with her actions. Miyuki was about to storm off to follow and stop them when Linith stopped her and said: "Give them a little time to say their goodbye's, Miyuki-chan."

"Alright, let's just follow after them, Linith-san." Miyuki response and went off her way to Nanoha's room.

-**o**-

By the moment the three girls arrived in Nanoha's room, she slammed the door and locked it hoping that the princess will understand her plea, yearning for her to stay a little longer.

The two girls were breathing heavily, Hayate slumping over in the bed, she grumbled "Mou! Nanoha-chan, don't drag me like a ragdoll and go sprinting whenever you like! I cannot run as fast as you can."

Soon Nanoha's breathing came back under control, ignoring Hayate's complaint, she composed herself, set her gaze towards Fate, meeting her eyes she spoke "Fate-chan, don't go. Please, stay a little longer with us." Standing in front of Fate, she cup the princess cheeks in her hands, meeting her gaze, Nanoha solemnly said, "Stay with me. I don't want you to go Fate-chan. I want you to be with me every day. Don't go somewhere else."

With a heavy heart, Fate took a deep breath, feeling the warmth of Nanoha's hands she spoke "I have to go, Nanoha. I must follow what my mom has ordered us to do."

Tears filled up her sapphire eyes as she heard what the princess had said. Seeing the auburn-haired girl crying felt like something was piercing her heart but Fate tried her best to hold back her tears. Taking off her necklace from her neck, the younger girl decided to give Nanoha the most precious gift that she had received and could give, handing it over to her hand, she spoke "Nanoha, take this. Keep it for me until I come back to be with you again."

"But Fate-chan, this necklace was given by your mom and is very important to you." Hesitating Nanoha responded, thinking that the younger girl will be in trouble when her mother found out that she gave away her necklace. At the same time, feeling assured about the gesture of the princess giving her an important item that made her realized that Fate was serious about her promise.

The princess smiled and gave the auburn-haired girl a quick kiss on her forehead. "Keep it, for now, Nanoha." Not giving Nanoha chance to complain, she walked towards the table where her gatsby hat was, she picked it up and went to her brunette friend, placing on the hat on her friend's head she spoke "Hayate, you can have this. Please, take care of Nanoha."

Not expecting to receive something from the princess, Hayate thought of what to give her in return hoping that Nanoha will have the initiative to give Fate something valuable from her. The only thing that she can offer was her Tome of the Night Sky book which made her think that it somewhat has a connection between the three of them as friends "Here Fate-chan, please accept this book as a present from me! Please, don't forget about Naa-no-ha-chaaan and me! Ne?"

Hayate deliberately sang Nanoha's name to catch her attention. When the auburn-haired girl heard her name, she stared at the brunette trying to figure out what she wanted her to do. Hearing Fate saying "Thanks" to Hayate while accepting the book, she ran on her bed to take her most favorite precious stuffed bunny that was given by her dad during her sixth birthday, which Fate really loves to play before sleeping at night. Stretching out her arms to hand it over she spoke "Fate-chan, please take care of this little bunny too. I know you like this little gal and now I'm giving her to you."

"Thank you, Nanoha. I promise to carry her wherever I go so that I will always remember you." Receiving the stuffed animal from Nanoha made the princess feel so happy.

Knock, knock, knock! Hearing the sound from the door, Fate decided to say goodbye properly to her friends, hugging them as tight as she can she spoke feeling the lump in her throat "Farewell to you Nanoha, Hayate. We'll see each other again. Thank you for taking care of me." Breaking her hold to her friends, she walked towards the door and opened it, leaving the room without glancing back, her footsteps felt so heavy.

Nanoha tried to speak but words failed to come out from her mouth, watching her friend leaving the room. Feeling like an abandoned puppy, tears started streaming from her eyes again. Hayate who was also teary-eyed, wrapped her arms around Nanoha to calm her down, sniffing she said: "That idiot did not even manage to cry." Taking a deep breath, she continued "Don't worry, Nanoha-chan. We will see her again soon. Your mom will take care of it, neh?" Not receiving a response from Nanoha, Hayate sighed defeatedly.

-**o**-

As when Fate was already sitting beside Linith inside the backseat of the car, tears started to well in her eyes like streams of running water that she could no longer hold back. Silently crying, she embraced the book and the little bunny in her arms that was given by her friends, ignoring the person who was sitting next to her, stroking her hair trying to calm her down until they arrived on their home. Seeing the princess crying, the silver brown-haired woman felt pained. Only one time before had she seen Fate painfully crying like she's witnessing now, the first time Precia left her with the Harlaowns. The only difference was, she then she'd been terrified and started screaming very loud out of confusion at that time. There was a strong desperate emotional feeling that the princess felt when she had seen her mother leave her in her father's home especially since she'd just met him when she was five years old.

The amount of unconditional love and attachment that Linith had seen between Fate and her friends seems to be unlimited, which really made her think that the separation was so overwhelming for the princess, as a child.

Before Fate exited the car, she dried her tears with her hanky, she took a deep breath and composed herself. There were three people she met her on her way to the entrance of their home, wondering who are these people she stopped walking in front of them. Understanding the curiosity of the princess, Linith came to introduce the three persons. "Fate-sama, these were your new bodyguards." Gesturing her hands towards the tallest girl among the three she spoke "This is Signum Yagami. She's from the royal navy but now, will be serving you as your personal bodyguard." Hearing the family name of the pink haired woman sparked an interest in Fate, remembering her friend Hayate. "And this is Arf and Agito, Yagami-san's assistants. They will be in charge for you, Fate-sama."

"Good afternoon, princess." The three greeted her in sync. Fate nodded in response and continue to walk inside their home. Pausing her step for a moment she inquired of the pink haired woman "Signum Yagami, I can trust you, can't I?"

"I swear my loyalty to you, princess." The tall woman responded politely.

"Well then do me a favor after the dinner, Signum." Fate smiled happily thinking that her friends were not so hard to reach with the help of her new bodyguard which she thought might be related to Hayate.

"Yes, princess. Anything that you will order me to do so, I will gladly help." Signum replied.

"Thank you." Fate replied.

A loud squeak from her little sister caught her attention "Onee-sama! Onee-sama! Okairi!" Alicia welcomed her happily. Throwing herself at Fate almost overbalancing her posture, wrapping her hands around her onee-sama's waist, nuzzling her face on her chest she said "I missed you so much, Onee-sama! I was so lonely without you."

"Tadaima Alicia." Fate respond, giving her little sister a tight hug. "I missed you too." The kind of cuddle that Alicia giving her, made her remembered the happy times that she had spent with Nanoha, looking back on how the auburn haired girl possessively hugged her most of the time which made her feel that her existence is worthwhile being loved and wanted by the person she likes. With those kind of thoughts in her mind, she made a resolve to do everything she can to constantly communicate with her friends. Especially with Nanoha no matter what will happen and never to forget all the promises they made.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Please, review favorite or follow if you like the story. :D Thanks!**_

 _ **bubbleduckie: here ya go dear! more nanofate moments. 3**_

 _ **rijaja:Thanks for being so thoughtful! hope ya enjoy this chapter!**_


	13. Confusion? Eeeehh!

**Author's Notes:**

 **Heya! What's up everyone! How have you been? Sorry for the delay update but thanks to those who're patiently waiting. RL sucked me up and been dealing with a lot of crazy problems that were driving me insane.**

 **I've read some interesting reviews and to be honest you made me giggle and I really need that to make my heart more healthy. Lol.**

 **Special thanks to my Oneechan, Phoenixnext and The Oni, Elfbs for helping me to make our favorite girls act properly (Oh, I have to rewrite a lot of scenes in this chapter, but it was for the greater good. lol). Also, to theforgottenpen who answered all my questions even I was being difficult to him. Lol!**

 **Also, please be patient as our girls are still growing in this story. I really want their characters to develop well and I don't have any plans to rush it. Don't worry, they'll become adults in the future. Lol.**

 **I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter. Here we go…**

 _ **For the Anonymous reviewers, please at least put a distinction on your "guest" names. xD Arigato!**_

 _March 5, 20xx_

 _Dear Nanoha,_

 _I miss you everyday. It's been a long time since we last saw each other. It feels like a lifetime and I really want to see you soon. I met with Hayate during your winter break when she came over with her family. Alicia seems to like her very much and was following her wherever she went. I couldn't even play or talk to her while she was here. She was a little bit annoyed with my imouto but she can't complain she liked the attention. Alicia wouldn't let Hayate see me, the tanuki was pouting and tried to run away from her but wasn't able to escape. Funny right?_

 _I wished I could come and join your party this year. Mom said, we will be going back to Japan next year after she finishes her duties here. I guess, we' ll see each other then._

 _Spring has come in England and it has been good. The trees have begun to grow their leaves and plants are starting to flower. Oh, I really want you to see the astonishing beauty of nature of this country during this season! Of course, it would be better if the two of us could see it together._

 _How about you? How have you been? As for me, I'm doing well. How's your school? I felt so envious when Hayate told me that you_ _were classmates! I wish we could study together in the future. But I guess, that couldn't be because I'm younger than you. Homeschool is really boring and sad. We can't play with the other kids. But, it doesn't matter that much, Nanoha. All that I've been wishing all these time was to play with you and Hayate._

 _Forgive me if I cannot write to you so often. Mom will surely get mad if she finds out. My mobile phone and laptop were taken away when Alicia told mom that I have been spending too much time playing with you and Hayate online. She said I'm grounded and I need to focus on my studies. I'm sorry if I can't send you emails._

 _It's already late here. I have to go to sleep now. Take care!_

 _Love,_

 _Fate_

(Spring Break 3rd year Middle School)

Sitting on the piano bench, the auburn-haired girl folded the letters and put them back in the box, wondering why her best friend had stopped sending her letters and mails. It has been almost two years since their communication was cut. The crown princess has died a year ago in a car accident and Nanoha knew that Fate was feeling lonely. It made her wonder why the princess never even tried to contact them.

Wanting to know what happened to her friend, Nanoha desperately begged to her dad yesterday to tell her about Fate. To her dismay, Shiro just gave her a cold look while her mom, still mourning the death of Precia, just gave her a tight hug. She felt like she was left out in the dark, suspecting that her parents knew what was happening and not telling her anything.

Sighing defeatedly, Nanoha walked towards her window and glanced up to the skies while gently caressing the necklace that Fate gave her before she left. "Fate-chan, I will always be waiting for your return. You will keep your promises, right?"

"Yes, I will Nanoha. I will marry you as I promised." Hayate stealthily walked in inside Nanoha's room, spoke from behind her turned back, as she was trying to imitate Fate's voice to tease her friend.

Pouting at her friend who was now giving her a wide grin she replied "Mou! Hayate-chan! Stop teasing me like that! We're no longer kids! And Fate-chan is our best friend! On top of that, she didn't promise to marry me!" Having an exasperated look, she mentally grumbled " _She innocently asked me to marry her when we were still kids though and Fate-chan already knew what marriage means,"_ placing her hand on her lips she continued, " _so it's kinda embarrassing to be reminded about it. All that's a side note though since she's not even bothering to contact me."_ Drooping her shoulders, she mindlessly stared at the tanuki who was starting to rummage through her stuff.

"You always read her letters. It's just a pity that you dropped your phone in the pool. Hahaha!" Remembering how Nanoha reacted when her precious phone had sunk into the water, she laughed mentally.

Hayate knew it was difficult for her friend when Fate stopped sending them mails. She remembered how Nanoha asked her almost every day if the blonde has a message for her and even forced Signum to be her _mule_ to deliver letters to their friend when she went back for a short vacation. It was more devastating for Nanoha when all of her letters that she sent for Fate via Signum from the month after her birthday was sent back to her.

Sitting back on the bench while facing her tanuki friend Nanoha inquired "Stop it Hayate-chan. Don't you have any news about Fate-chan? Alicia-chan is still sending you mails, right?"

"Nope. And I'm glad she's stopped sending me those annoying creepy mails months ago when I started not to reply at her." When the tanuki realized that Nanoha was asking her that question again, she glanced at her friend who was looking at her with knitted brows. "Hey! I told you that already! In addition, I'm pissed off at her!"

Raising her left brows, hands on her hips Nanoha asked wondering why Hayate was trying to run away from Alicia "What's wrong with Alicia-chan sending you mails? You could have asked her about Fate-chan too."

Thinking that Alicia begrudged Fate, for having her and Nanoha as friends but could not think of other reason to tell she said "I did that already and she won't answer me. I wonder what's up with them. Maybe, she doesn't want to share Fate-chan with us." Hayate snorted "Ahhhh! That little brat! Such a pain!"

"Niyahaha! Maybe you were so cruel to her and that made her upset coz you were acting as if you were just only concerned about Fate-chan." The sapphire-eyed girl snickered remembering what Fate had said in her letter about Alicia and Hayate. "That made her jealous. Also, why would she give you a free service when you're messing around with other girls?" She continued teasing her friend.

After seeing how Alicia tried to control Fate in front of Precia, the brunette did her best not to get too familiar with the younger blonde grasping that behind her sweet and cuddly nature lies someone who was willing to do anything to get she wants. After she was locked up by Alicia in her room in that instant Hayate realized the younger princess didn't take rejections at all and even Fate could not do anything to help her. She'd even followed her to her school claiming that she owns her and she hated it. Anyone who gets in her way will surely be ruined.

' _I need to talk to Fate-chan. I don't want to play with you, Alicia-chan. Let me out of this room, please!'_

' _I can give you anything, Hayate, don't play with the other kids neh? When we go back to Japan, I will come and play with you often, okay? You won't feel alone, I promise. You will always be mine.'_

Remembering what Alicia said Hayate grimaced "Sure, that midget was a cutie, but there was something about her that is hard to explain. And I hate it when she's telling me that she owns me! I'm not a toy!"

"Oh, come on Hayate-chan! That midget is a princess! What do you expect? She's a brat. Also, I remember you told me that you want to have a princess of your own, right? Hahaha!" Slapping her thighs, Nanoha laughed. "You do like Alicia-chan, don't you? You just don't want to admit it!"

Brows creasing, the brunette bluntly denied "Hell no! That midget is a brat! A very authentic one. Not even close to your Fate-chan's demeanor! Damn it! I was expelled from our previous school because of her! Thanks to her I was held back for a year!"

Crossing her arms, Nanoha stood up and said "Such rude remarks. She's still Fate-chan's little sister. She'll not appreciate hearing that from you. Alicia-chan is a little sweetheart, ya know? At least be nice to her when others are around. I don't want you to be in trouble again because of her, Hayate-chan." Remembering that Alicia was more favored than Fate she sighed "Of course, even though they are sisters you shouldn't compare them with each other, Hayate-chan. That's one of Fate-chan's struggles, you know that."

She knew that the younger princess was kinda obsessive, but the sapphire-eyed girl choose to believe what Fate had told her about her imouto. Nanoha was aware that Hayate doesn't like being manipulated by other people but the way she talked and whined about Alicia made it obvious that she likes her and yet she was distancing herself by messing around with the other girls which made Alicia upset. "Come on Hayate-chan! It wasn't Alicia-chan's fault you were making out with a girl at school! I warned you about that already."

Suspecting why the older blonde was not able to communicate with them, she asked Nanoha, ignoring the last words that her friend has mentioned "How come Alicia-chan was able to follow me at school while Fate-chan did not even bother to contact or see both of us? They were already in Japan! Fate-chan had promised to see us when she get back!"

Nanoha lowered her head and said "I don't know, Hayate-chan. You should go asking your cousins and not me." The auburn haired girl shook her head hearing what Hayate said. Thinking that maybe Fate got tired of her and doesn't want to see her, anymore. Trying to shoo away those terrifying thoughts in her head, she kept on holding on to her best friend's promise and that she should be trusting her with all her heart while caressing the lightning shaped pendant of Fate's necklace. She knew that the necklace was not just for a show especially now that Precia was dead.

Throwing herself on the bed, Hayate exclaimed "Ahh! It'll just upset me. They won't say anything. They'll just change the subject. It's so frustrating!"

Realizing that they must do something about it, she added "Niyahaha you really missed her, don't you, Nanoha-chan?"

Giving her friend a half smile she said "Of course, you know how much I miss her." Feeling envious of Hayate for having seen Fate two years ago she grumbled "Ahhh! Why didn't mom bring me when she went to England! Even Hayate-chan was able to see her too."

"Oya? Fate-chan is prettier with her blonde hair. I was enchanted by her beauty but of course, she's Nanoha-chan's waifu. I was thinking that time.." Stroking an imaginary beard she continued the tease, "that Nanoha-chan will surely drool seeing her blondie princess. Nyahahaha!" The auburn-haired girl blushed like a tomato while Hayate giggled seeing her friend's reaction. "and I'm betting all my inheritances that you'll gonna gawk at her with a wide eye expression, slacked jaws coz Fate-chan is such a drop dead gorgeous girl. You'll surely pin her against a wall to give her a fervent kiss when you get to see her." Hayate snuggled on the pillow while imaginary smooching on the air to tease Nanoha more.

Face flushing red Nanoha teased back to avoid Hayate's silliness. She knew that the girl will make a lot of lewd remarks messing up her whole system and she needs to shut her up so soon. "Says the girl who can't stop talking about Alicia-chan all the time." Pointing at Hayate's necklace that has a stylized cross pendant with 3 point that each have a cross engraved on them she added. "Wearing that necklace everyday while denying her true feelings for the midget princess..." Nanoha threw a pillow on her friend's face while shaking in laughter, knowing that her tanuki friend was just doing her best to maintain her annoyance with the younger princess.

"That's so sad Hayate-chan!"

The brunette fiddled on her pendant and she smiled bitterly feeling upset over what the younger blonde had done but was also regretting not showing her care for Alicia, she thought that it would have been different if she hadn't made such a stupid mistake. But what hurt her most was being betrayed by the person that was special to her and showered her so much attention but she cannot just forgive Alicia yet. Maybe in the future? Maybe not? Who knows?

Hayate knew how to handle Nanoha when she was feeling sad, especially each time she misses Fate. The sapphire-eyed girl was grateful to have her as her best friend reassuring and distracting her. Wondering why the tanuki was at their home she asked her "What the hell are you doing here anyway? It's already late."

"Sleepover with my best friend?" Giving Nanoha an enigmatic smile, Hayate grab ahold of a pillow and throw it back to her friend while sticking out her tongue at her. The auburn haired girl dodged the pillow and said "No pillow fights tonight, Hayate-chan."

Fidgeting at her friend she complaint "Mou! Nanoha-chan such a spoilsport!"

Showing off her new tennis racket to Hayate, she smiled ignoring her friend's grumbling knowing that playing the game could at least cheer her up she said. "Neh? Hayate-chan, wanna play a set?"

Reluctant to play with the sapphire-eyed girl, as she was starting to sweat cold caused by a sudden pain from her head, Hayate protested "Eeeh? Now? It's already late to play tennis!"

Hands on her hips while tilting her head she said "Ho ho? Where did all your enthusiasm go, Hayate-chan? You were so hyperactive whenever I asked you to play tennis!" Nanoha can't help raising her brows at Hayate's response. "I can't believe that you are rejecting my challenge tonight. Is that you, my Hayate-chan?"

A familiar headache flared, Hayate rested her head in her hands and began to rub it to massage away the pain. Trying to sit down at the edge of the bed, she closed her eyes fighting off the throbbing vein on her skull, while breathing heavily while also holding on her chest. When she opened those eyes, her perception has started to become hazy due to lack of oxygen.

Recently, she was not able to get enough sleep thinking about Alicia and Fate and how she can help Nanoha. She had been also tired handling the bullies at their school without telling anyone. Not even her best friend. She knew that Nanoha will not waste any second to kick butts the moment she'll discover that someone were trying to harm her. She can't afford to drag the sapphire-eyed girl to her problems knowing that her father will surely give Nanoha hell. Hayate clearly understood why her friend was trying to patch her up with Alicia. If only she wasn't stubborn enough and listened to Nanoha, she wouldn't have to face her demons today. But her upbringing could never swallow that someone was claiming her like a toy.

Nanoha noticed that her friend was acting strange and seemed to be in pain. Deciding to check on Hayate, she put away her racket and headed towards the bed where her friend was sitting. Standing in front of her friend, she looked at her face closer asking her worriedly "What's wrong Hayate-chan? Are you okay?"

Concealing her pain, Hayate smiled half-heartedly and said "I~I'm fine, Nanoha-chan. I just need to drink some water." She stood up and walked few steps before her perception has started to dim as she fell passing out on the floor which made Nanoha freaked out, loudly screaming her name. "Hayate-chan! Hayate-chan! Please wake up!" Not receiving a response from her friend, Nanoha think quickly on what she should do and decided to call someone for help using Hayate's mobile phone, her hands were shaking whilst sweats were running down from her face "S-shamal-san! Hayate-chan had a sudden headache and just passed out! Please help! She's here in our home! Please call an ambulance!." After saying those words, the auburn-haired girl ran outside her room to call for help, with the thoughts on her mind that she must do everything that she can to rescue her best friend.

 _ **Precia's residence**_

Lying on the couch, playing with her stuff bunny while waiting for her personal aids to arrive, the princess was pondering about what her oba-sama asked her to do three months ago that she should try attending a school. She knew that she can no longer do anything about the death of her mother and yet she was still having nightmares since the day they had lost her. She was feeling miserable all those times and shut herself down even with her friends. Unlike her little sister Alicia, who decided to study in a co-ed middle school a month after the death of the crown princess and now was living in a dorm with her friend. She wondered how her imouto had been feeling and how the hell she was able to move on so easily knowing that she was their mother's favorite.

While the princess was busy on her thoughts, her three trusted guards entered the room where she was. When the three had greeted them, she immediately sat down and asked the red-haired short woman "Agito, have you checked the results of my entrance exams?"

Proud of her princess achievement Agito responded with a wide grin, "Yes, Fate-sama. You did great as usual! You aced the exams."

"Arigato, Agito. I assume that you had finished dealing with my school requirements." Fate responded while sipping the cup of tea that Arf has served her.

The shorter girl reached out to the princess while giving her some cookies "Don't worry Fate-sama, everything has been set according to your instructions."

After Fate nodded at Agito, she turned her attention to the pink haired woman "How about you Signum? Have you confirmed where Nanoha and Hayate will be attending senior high school?"

"Yes. Takamachi Nanoha-sama will be attending at Midchilda Senior High. But I'm afraid, Hayate-sama will not be able to join you. She was expelled last year and had to transferred out to Midchilda Junior High." Signum responded.

Glancing at Signum in surprised, intrigued on what she had heard she inquired "How did Hayate end up getting expelled? She's very smart and has a very good family reputation."

Signum sighed "She was caught making out with her…" coughing a little the tall woman continued "with her g-girlfriend at school. Alicia-hime was the one who was responsible for her expulsion."

The blonde facepalmed as when she heard Alicia's name. "Why didn't you tell me about it, Signum?" Fate inquired at her personal guard. She knew that her imouto was capable of doing a careless mistake just like she did few years ago when Alicia mindlessly told Precia that she was absorbed playing an online game with Hayate and Nanoha out of jealousy. "And how come Alicia was the one who was responsible for Hayate's expulsion? What did she do?"

"According to Hayate-sama, Alicia-hime has committed a terrible faux pas against her with the thoughts of that they will just be reprimanded and not be expelled." Signum looked at her straight to the eye and said "And I apologized for not telling you about it Fate-sama. It's just, it happened during the time that you had shut yourself down from everyone."

Feeling guilty for spoiling her imouto, she massaged her head with her fingers "Oh, I see. However, I need to know how Alicia blundered Hayate."

Straightening her body, Signum composed herself and said "Fate-sama, about that if you wouldn't mind me saying this, it's better that you should go and ask Hayate-sama personally."

Thinking that it's time to meet her friends, knowing that she'll be attending on the same school as Nanoha, she smiled and said "I guess I'll do that when I see Hayate. Thank you, Signum."

Remembering what she had asked to Arf she spoke towards her "Arf, were you able to get what I have asked you?"

"Hai! Feito-sama. Here it is." Arf reached out her palms while holding a small box, inside was a necklace that has a lovely pearl-shaped red gem with a pinkish sheen pendant to Fate then she smiled asking her mistress "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Nodding in agreement the princess replied "Indeed, Arf. This will surely look lovely on Nanoha."

"You had personally chose the exquisite design and the finest materials for that necklace, Feito-sama. Your elegant taste made it look fabulous." Arf responded while smiling radiantly to their princess who was now carefully inspecting the item. "Nanoha-sama will surely be pleased by your present."

Contented on what her guard had accomplished, she complimented her. "Splendid! This is exactly what I have asked you to get, Arf. Arigato."

"Fate-sama, I think Nanoha-sama will be your classmate." Agito butt in when she remembered that she saw Nanoha's entrance exams score on the board.

"It's not that surprising, Agito. Nanoha had been excelling in her studies and extracurricular activities." Fate smiled, still fixing her gaze on the necklace that she will give to her best friend in exchange of the necklace that she had asked her to keep for her until she come back to see her auburn-haired friend.

"You've been keeping an eye on her all these years Feito-sama..." Arf did not continue what she was about to say knowing that it might upset the princess. " _Except when your mom died. You had changed a lot since then, Feito-sama. I hope Nanoha-sama and Hayate-sama could help you heal your wounds."_

"Thanks to all of you. I couldn't have done that without you." Fate placed the necklace on her favorite stuffed bunny that was given by Nanoha, "I don't know how to approach Nanoha when I get to see her though."

"Nanoha-sama will surely be glad to see you, Fate-sama. She has been yearning for your presence." Signum spoke as she remembered that Nanoha was so eager to know Fate's whereabouts but didn't tell her anything because of the instructions that they had received from the late crown princess.

"Ahm, Yes. I will see her soon. Nanoha. I just need to finish all my tasks so that my hands won't get tied by the time the classes starts." Fate rested her back on the couch while stretching her arms, holding up the little bunny, her face had softened then she smile.

Arf sat down beside the blonde, worried about their gentle princess she said. "Feito-sama, I've been worrying about you living alone when you start going at school. We have been taking care of you all these years but this time we can't go and support you either."

Fate leaned her head to Arf's shoulder. The princess knew that her guards always give a lot of fuss when she's in trouble or even with the tiniest problem that she had, especially the wolf girl as what Signum and Agito called her, that she never let Fate to make a lot of effort doing things whenever she's around. "I'll be fine, Arf. Do not worry."

"Fate-sama, at least allow us to clean your place when you are not around and go shopping for your supplies." Agito offered suspecting that Fate doesn't know how to purchase anything and was accustomed to ask anyone to do something for her. Also, she was worried sick with her mistress that she could not tend for herself properly, hoping that it will not turned out a disaster.

"I want to experience living outside my comfort. I'll just figure it out. Besides you'll be watching over me from the distance. As what I have said, there's no need to worry." Fate said with a smile on her face. If Hayate and Nanoha were able to do it, why not her?

"Ahh! Arf, Agito. We must trust the princess. She can do anything when she put it on her mind. She's already a big girl." crossing her arms, Signum spoke thinking that it's time for the young princess to show off the things that she could do by herself. Afterall, she will be having more responsibilities in the future. If she could not handle herself, how can she lead the monarchs in the future?

Fate stood up and took a bow in front of her guards "Arigato, Signum. You too Arf, Agito. I'm trusting you to keep me safe but please do not approach me unless it's an emergency situation that I cannot handle by myself. I also want to keep a low profile so that I don't have to deal with a lot of unnecessary hassles."

Tok Tok Tok! Fate and her three guards glances to the door when they heard a knock. They saw Alicia opened the door rushing towards the older blonde wearing a worried look on her face and behind her was Zafira following her footsteps, trying to speak to her but Alicia ignored him instead she ran to Fate. "Onee-sama!" Alicia called Fate.

"What's wrong Alicia?" Fate asked seeing her imouto's restlessness made her worry wondering what would be the problem this time that her sister had made that she needed to fix.

Groaning in fear, the younger blonde hugged her oneesama tightly "Onee-sama! Hayate was rushed to the hospital last night! Zafira said she passed out on the floor! I want to see her this instant!"

Zafira sighed in exhaustion on what Alicia had said, it was more like the princess just overheard her phone call with Shamal, but her stubborn mistress just ran off to her sister without asking the whole details.

Hearing what the younger princess had said, Signum asked her brother to confirm what she had heard. "Is it true Zafira? How was Hayate-sama's condition? Was it serious?"

"Shamal called me last night and said they were still waiting for the results. But today," Zafira explained but was cut off when the younger princess exclaimed.

"Onee-sama! I want to see her! Hayate! Please, allow me to go to the hospital now." Alicia beseech at Fate while shaking her sister. She knew, she have to ask her permission now that their mother was already gone and her charm doesn't always work on her sister.

Stroking her hand Alicia's hair she said and Fate thought that she must gave her imouto a warning. "I'll go with you. And don't try to stop me this time, Alicia. I want to know her condition personally." Fate had already spoken before Alicia tried to stop her.

She was aware that her sister doesn't want her to see her friends in fear of losing the attention or maybe Alicia's obsessive behavior towards Hayate. Insisting her authority as an older sister, Fate decided that she'd have to be strict and stop pampering her imouto's selfishness after hearing what she did to Hayate. "Signum, Zafira, you should go and ready the car. We're leaving now."

"Onee-sama, wait!" Alicia tried to stop her onee-sama by tugging her arm but Fate glared at her. She realized that her sister have every right to make decisions for the both of them as the head of their family and this time, she's not giving her a chance to do what she wants.

"Stop being so silly, Alicia. I won't take away Hayate from you!" Fate warned her sister "Now, get off of me or you prefer staying here and not seeing your friend?"

When Alicia thought that she could no longer do anything to change her onee-sama's decisions, she nodded defeatedly and followed her with her shoulders droop without making any complaints. She knew that Fate's decisions were always firm and absolute just like their mom and there was no way that she could bend it a little. The only reason that she was able to manipulate her sister because she was letting her do whatever she pleases and the younger blonde knew that Fate loves her so much and was just spoiling her rotten.

By the time the sisters arrived in the hospital, they went straight to Hayate's room after confirming the suite number where she was admitted. Hayate was already awake and was reading a book when Alicia entered and headed towards the bed. While Fate did not enter the room yet and gave Alicia time to meet her tanuki friend alone.

The brunette made a face when she met the gaze of the last person that she would want to see. "What are you doing here, Alicia? What do you want?"

Seeing Hayate having no IV's attached to her made Alicia happy and went up to the bed to snuggle her favorite tanuki. "Mou! Ha~ya~te! I was so worried when I heard that you passed out last night." Pressing her left palm to Hayate's cheek she continued "And here you are. So healthy and well."

Glaring at the blonde, Hayate swatted her hand away. "That's none of your business."

Alicia still tried to hug her, but the brunette pushed her away, "Get off of me Alicia. I'm not your cuddle toy. Stay away from me!"

"Ha~ya~te, please don't be mad at me, neh? I'm just worried about you." Alicia took her hand, but the brunette brush it off.

Hayate clenched her fist, pressing her lips tightly she said "Don't you understand, Alicia? I don't want you here. I don't want to see you either!"

Pretending not to know what Hayate was talking about Alicia asked "Why, Hayate?"

Feeling betrayed by what Alicia had done to her that cost her a lot of shame and scolding from her family she can't help herself but to raise her voice "Have you forgotten what you did to me?! Or you were just simply stupid not to understand how much it costs me!" Hayate snorted "You almost ruined my whole life! Thanks to you, Hime-sama! I got to face the bullies everyday at school making fun of me! Oh plus I was held back for a year! Now I can no longer be classmates with Nanoha-chan!"

"I'm sorry, Hayate. I never intended to harm you. I only did that because I was jealous! I can't stand it when you're with the other girls! You're only mine." Alicia tried to reason out hoping that Hayate would forgave her stupid mistake that she cannot change but the brunette was being difficult.

"Someone from the main branch will never understand. The house of Yagami might be serving your family, but you don't own me Hime-sama, so stop trying to manipulate everyone! On top of that, You~have~no~right~to~be~jealous!" The throbbing veins from her neck was starting to become visible, Hayate slammed the book on the table. "An apology will not change anything, Alicia. It's just an empty word without actions. You're a bratty princess after all." Hayate stood up and started to walk towards the door when she noticed that it was slightly opened while grabbing ahold of Alicia's wrist, trying to send her out.

Alicia stopped her by embracing her from her back "Hayate, please forgive me. What do you want me to do? Kneel down before you? I can do that. Just please, don't be mad at me." feeling guilty of what she did, the princess released her hold from the brunette and kneeled down in front of her embracing her leg, tears starting to well up from her crimson eyes. "I care so much about you, Hayate. I know, I am so stupid. I am not as smart as my oneesama. I'm a brat. I did a lot of mistakes and made oneesama suffer in my place, and worst I did a horrible thing to you too, please forgive me. I will do anything for you."

Hayate looked down to Alicia, she saw the guilt painted on her face that made her resolve crumbled but firmly told herself that the blonde was just trying to fool her, she knew how she manipulated their late mother and Fate so instead, she decided to abuse Alicia's guilt "I want to know where and how to contact, Fate-chan. You've been keeping her away from us, haven't you? Now, you said you will do anything for me, don't you?"

Alicia nodded and said "Everything that you will ask me to do, I promise to fulfill it with my own power."

Hayate knew she was playing dirty but she can't help herself to abuse the younger blonde for a little payback on what she did, "There were only two things that I want you to do. First, tell me how to contact Fate-chan, much better if you can bring her to me." Hayate faked a smile then she continued "I'll tell you the second one after you fulfill what I wanted."

"What do I get from this, Hayate?" Alicia inquired.

"Who knows? Just do it and get the hell out from this room! Stop kneeling in front of me and do something nice and productive! Kneeling and sobbing will get you nowhere!" Hayate shoke off her leg and pushed Alicia away.

Outside, Fate could no longer stand how Hayate treated her sister but she knew that her friend has the right to feel angry about Alicia but what made the older princess felt worst was, it was too much for her imouto to kneel in front of the tanuki, somewhat her pride was hurt but she has no choice but to apologize to Hayate for Alicia's sake, feeling guilty of everything that she let her imouto do what she pleases, she castigated herself.

Signum was about to go inside and give a word to Hayate but Fate prevented her to do so, and decided that she will be the one that has to take responsibility about her sister's mischiefs. She knew her friend well and being kind and cheerful were her trademarks and for her sister making the brunette snapped like that was something beyond her expectations. Who would not be? Hayate was not an everyday student and came from a noble family, expulsion would have stained her reputation and could embarrassed her in the future which she doesn't deserve.

When Alicia went out from Hayate's suite, she headed straight to her oneesama, embracing her while crying like she did during Precia's funeral that gave Fate a heartbreak for her imouto. "Onee-sama, please talk to Hayate. Do something about her. Make her listen to me. I want her to forgive me! You can do that, right?! Make it possible!"

Fate pressed her palms on Alicia's cheeks wiping her tears away whilst trying to calm her sister down. "Shhh, I will try to speak to her, Alicia. But, I cannot promise you anything. You did a terrible thing to Hayate." Stroking her imouto's hair she said "However, a princess should not kneel down before others other than Heika."

Stomping her feet, she exclaimed "I don't care oneesama! I need Hayate! I promised to do anything for her. We already lost Precia-mom! I don't want to lose her." Alicia buried her face to Fate's chest.

She realized that Hayate was her sister's important person aside from her, just like Nanoha to her, the only difference was she distanced herself to the auburn-haired girl while her imouto pushed herself to her tanuki friend even if it was obvious that she doesn't like Alicia's behaviour.

Twenty minutes had passed and finally, Alicia had calmed down. They were sitting on a bench where only few people were passing. She broke her hold to Alicia, looking at her clothes and said "You had ruined my dress, Alicia. I guess I have to change it before I meet Oba-sama."

Alicia looked up at her "Aren't you going to speak with Hayate today, oneesama?"

"I will. And I want you to stay here with Signum." Fate stood up and patted her sister's head. "I guess it's time to fix and clean up your mess again, Alicia. We'll talk properly, later."

Alicia's eyes shone when she heard what her oneesama had said, expecting that after her talk with Hayate they can make up with each other and became friends again. "Arigato, onee-sama! I really can count on you!"

"Don't thank me. Now, I'm going." She started to head her way to Hayate's suite.

Hayate was resting her head on her palms by the time Fate entered her room. In the corner of her eye, she saw a blonde figure and thought it was Alicia trying to annoy her once more. "Haven't I told you that you should do what I asked you to do before you show yourself to me, Alicia!"

Fate did not respond to her but instead she headed towards the bed, Hayate shouted and started to massage her temples she closed her eyes "Get out! Don't come near me!"

Fate spoke, standing beside the hospital bed whilst observing Hayate and spoke firmly "I am not going to get out from this room. I need to talk with you, Hayate."

Hearing the familiar gentle yet icy voice, she knew that it wasn't Alicia who spoke to her, she opened her eyes and looked up to where she heard it to confirm her apprehension. She was gawking at the person standing next to her, even though the blonde sisters almost looked like an identical twins she can tell the difference. Alicia was shorter and always wears a mischievous smile on her face, a very warm person, loves to cuddle, making her heart jump and on top of that irritates her a lot, but the one who was inside her room now was taller, gentle facial features yet has the cold and distant vibe, a girl who was displaying genteelness that reminds her of a good friend.

Not expecting to see her friend, she took a deep breath trying to cool down her head while mentally complaining against Alicia " _What the hell? That brat could easily bring Fate-chan come to me and yet she gave me a lot of trouble before she did something nice."_ Hayate could not gather any word to say instead, she dragged her feet towards the window and observed what was happening outside.

Fate followed her, she stood up beside her friend, hands clutched on her back she asked "How have you been, Hayate? It's been a long time." Worried a little she asked "Is it okay for you to stand up now? I've heard that you passed out last night so we rushed to come in."

"Uhm, I've been well, Fate-chan. It's just, I was tired yesterday. How about you? You've grown taller than me. Maybe you and Nanoha-chan have the same height already." Hayate responded while inspecting Fate from head to toe.

Not seeing Hayate's usual cheerful demeanor, Fate lowered her head and spoke in a low voice "I see. I'm glad you're okay, Hayate."

Hayate lifted her eyebrow from the blonde's short response that made her think that Fate didn't have an interest to hear about Nanoha.

Remembering that Nanoha will be coming to visit her before her discharge, Hayate reached out to her phone and started to type a message while saying "Oh! Right! I need to inform Nanoha-chan that you're here. She'll be delighted and excited to see you, Fate-chan. I bet Nanoha-chan will rush coming over here!"

Remembering that she has an appointment with her oba-sama after the hospital visit, she prevented Hayate to send a message to Nanoha. "About that Hayate, please don't."

Brows knitted together, the tanuki asked her friend confirming what she just heard "What did you say, Fate-chan?"

Fate sighed "I said that it is not a good idea for Nanoha to come rushing over here. Don't send her a message. I can't see her now. We need to talk."

Confused on what the blonde had said, she continued to ask "Fate-chan, Nanoha-chan has been waiting for you all these time and you're telling me not to inform her that you're here now? Did I hear it right?"

Fate cut the chased knowing that even if Nanoha will rush to the hospital to see her, it will just frustrate her. As much as she wants to see her auburn-haired friend, she doesn't have enough time to stay longer. For now, her priority was to speak to her tanuki friend about what Alicia did and apologize to her. "Can we just forget about Nanoha, Hayate? I want to speak with you about Alicia's mischiefs."

Hayate tightened her grip on the phone, she couldn't believe that Fate was totally ignoring Nanoha. Suspecting that the older princess will come to rescue her imouto, she pressed her lips together. "What about Alicia's mischiefs?"

Fate bowed her head and said "I apologized for her behavior. As Alicia's older sister, I'm taking the responsibilities for her silly actions towards you. She had done a terrible mistake, it was all my fault. What can I do to appease you, Hayate?"

"You don't have to apologize for her sake. It already happened and there's nothing you can do about it." Hayate responded coldly, pressing her lips together, doing her best not to show her annoyance to Fate, her knees were starting to tremble so she sat down on the bed.

Fate sat beside Hayate, placing her hands on her friend's shoulder she said "I'm aware that you're annoyed with what she's doing and what she's done to you was really terrible. I'm really sorry, Hayate."

When the blonde saw her friend looked away from her, she took a deep breath perceiving that her sister became a burden to Hayate and blaming herself for pampering her imouto, she decided to take actions. "I'll do my best to prevent her from pestering you in the future. But please, even she was being desperate, do not let her kneel in front of you. We are still mourning for our loss and she was just being irrational. She's just desperate to be closer to you." Fate sighed, mentally debating if she must warn her friend about it or not. "Don't let it happen again, Hayate. You know what I mean."

Hayate brushed away her friend's hand, feeling sorry for Nanoha and thinking Fate had become a different person from what they had expected her to be. She smiled bitterly by the fact that the older blonde knew that Alicia kneeled in front of her and now the older blonde was giving her a threat. "You don't have to tell me what to do, Fate-chan. I swear that I will never let the hime-sama bow down in front of me again and you know that I'm not good at breaking promises, don't you?" Hayate said mockingly without Fate noticing it.

Looking at her wrist watch, realizing that she needed to leave soon Fate place her hand on Hayate's head, smiling at her she said "Thank you for paying attention to me, Hayate. Please, take care of yourself."

Hayate faked a smile at her friend while scratching her head, her eyes were downcast at the same time she was doing her best not to smack Fate on her face for being so insensitive towards her and Nanoha "Ahhh, yeah. I've been doing that, Fate-chan. It's just, I was so stressed recently searching for someone, thinking a lot on how to reach her, worrying about things that I shouldn't have, but I guess, my efforts were all in vain.

"Do not abuse your health Hayate. Try to relax sometime." The blonde said with a worried expression on her face, not noticing that her friend had changed her tone the way she talked at her. Fate smiled "Oh! It sounds weird coming out those words from me."

Giving Fate an unwarranted smile, she said "Yeah. I've learned my lesson already, Fate-chan."

"About Nano-..." Fate was about to tell Hayate that she'll be attending Midchilda Senior High and looking forward to see Nanoha at school but was interrupted when they heard the sudden knock on the door.

 _Knock knock knock!_ The door opened revealing Signum, and behind her was Alicia, peeking at Hayate. "Ahh, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Fate-sama, Hayate-sama. But, it's already time."

Fate stood up and gave Hayate a short hug "I'm sorry Hayate. I have to go now. I'll come to visit you soon."

"Ahh, yes Fate-chan. See you soon." Gritting her teeth, she mentally grumbled. " _Don't you dare to come and see me when you're being cold to Nanoha, you idiot princess! Such arrogance! You don't deserve Nanoha-chan's affection!"_

"Well then, we will be taking our leave. Let's go." Fate grab Alicia's hand, holding it tightly enough to send a message to her imouto that she must leave Hayate for a while.

Hayate turned her gaze outside the window, pissed off at the thought that everything that she had done for Fate and Nanoha was just in vain. She took her phone bitterly and started to compose a message for Alicia:

" _Hime-sama,_

 _Thanks for bringing Fate-chan to me. It's incredible on how you could easily fulfill my request today so I assume that you'll do the same with the next one._

 _My 2nd task for you should be:_

 _Staying away from me for the rest of your life will be good for my health. I no longer want to see you. You're such an eyesore. I can't stand your presence near me. I detest you after all! Please give me a peace of mind and get the hell out of my life!_

 _Your humble servant,_

 _Hayate Yagami"_

When she was done sending her mail, she furiously threw her phone on the floor into pieces. Slamming her fists on the bed, her tears were starting to well up in frustrations, holding her pendant, she forcefully grabbed the chain off her necklace that wounded the back of her neck. When, she was about to throw it outside the window, something from the back of her mind telling her not to do so. Knees shaking, Hayate sat on the bed, lowering her head whilst putting the pendant on her chest she painfully mumbled to herself. "I should have given this back to you before I sent that horrible message, Alicia-chan. Gomen."

The four were standing in front of the elevator door when Alicia received a mail. Seeing Hayate's name on her screen made her felt excited expecting that after her oneesama talked to her friend, the brunette will make up with her. She hurriedly opened the mail but after reading the message, she felt like she was kicked a thousand times in her stomach. She stood frozen, sweating cold while saying "I need to go back to Hayate."

Hearing what Alicia had said, her nose crinkled, Fate tightened her grip to her imouto's hand "You are not going back to Hayate's room, Alicia. Let her have a rest today. She need to recover her health soon."

Alicia forcefully disengage from Fate's hold, which made the older blonde wondered on her sister's behavior. "Let me go oneesama, I need to talk to Hayate! You don't understand! This is an emergency!" she shouted in exasperation which caught the attention of the by passers.

Fate noticed that Aĺicia was breathing heavily and she knew that something happened just now that made her sister act irrationally, she snatched Alicia's phone to confirm her suspicion. After confirming what happened she clenched her fist, Alicia could have made a mistake harming Hayate but as an older sister, she could no longer let anyone emotionally hurt her imouto and thinking that Hayate's message was too harsh. "We are leaving this instant, Alicia. You are never seeing Hayate anymore!"

"No! No! No! I'm not coming with you, oneesama! I'm going back to Hayate's suite!" Alicia screamed in protest, a lot of people were already looking at them wondering.

Not letting go of Alicia, she started to massage her forehead while mentally groaning. " _Why do I always have to deal with my imouto's tantrums? She's been stressing me a lot lately."_ Fate tried to drag Alicia, but she continued to resist "Let me go onee-sama! Why can't you understand?! Why does Hayate wants to see you so badly instead of me! Why?!" The younger blonde hysterically shouted at Fate. "Why does Hayate wants me to stay away from her when I'm just giving her my attention and all!"

"Husssh! Alicia, keep your voice low! How unsightly for a princess to have a tantrum in public. If this behavior will reach oba-sama's knowledge, you'll be surely get punished!" Fate desperately hugged her imouto but Alicia was starting to slam her fist on her shoulders, enduring the pain she said "It wasn't Hayate who wanted to see me so badly, it was Nanoha. She was just helping her." Fate tried to appease her imouto, but Alicia won't just stop.

"Get off of me, Onee-sama!" the younger princess tried to push Fate that almost out balanced her posture, luckily Signum caught them and prevented the fall.

Fate released her hold on her imouto, thinking that it was pointless to stop her at that point and Alicia was really trying her patience a lot. Lately, their grandmother was telling her to do something about Alicia's behavior and was really displeased, that has been stressing Fate out. She doesn't want to be harsh with her imouto, but she must discipline her as soon as possible.

When Alicia felt that Fate's grip had loosen, she looked up to her onee-sama, she froze up when she saw that Fate was giving her a cold piercing threateningly stare, sending her a blood-curling message that she must stop resisting or else Fate will give her hell. And this time, her oneesama wouldn't be backing off to do something about her.

"I don't have time to waste for your foolish public outburst, Alicia." gnashing her teeth, Fate coldly spoke, turning her back away from her.

Fate turned her attention to her sister's body guard and said "Escort the brat to the car and take her home, Zafira. Have Sieg lock her up on her room and do not let her go out until I arrive home." Thinking of what punishment she could give without doing any violence, she added. "Take away all her stuffs and have her sit on her study table and make her read all day."

"As you order, Fate-hime." Zafira took a short bow and gestured to Alicia to enter the lift "After you, Alicia-hime." Not wanting to annoy Fate more, the younger princess had no choice but to follow her sister's order. Never in her life had she seen Fate get angry like that. She was more accustomed to being loved and spoilt by her beloved onee-sama. And now, she was starting to realize that even a princess could not get everything they wanted, but maybe sitting on the throne would allow her to control everyone in the palms of her hands, especially her favorite tanuki.

"Are you okay, Fate-sama?" Signum asked inspecting the area where Alicia hit Fate.

Massaging her forehead she responded "I'm fine, Signum. I know, you also report to oba-sama but, don't let her know about Alicia's behavior today."

"As you wished, Fate-sama." Signum nodded in agreement understanding her mistress request.

Remembering that they had only used a single car, she asked "Did you call a cab, Signum?"

"There's no need to worry about that, Fate-sama. I already informed Hayate's guard to give us a ride. Also, I already ordered Agito to follow us on the site."

Looking at her watch she shook her head in displeasure and said "Good. However, we might not be able to come on time." Fate was starting to get impatient while waiting for the next lift, instead she started to head towards the stairs "Let's take the stairs, Signum."

"Hai, Fate-sama."

When Fate and Signum had reached the first floor, the blonde noticed that there was an auburn-haired girl standing in front of the lift, holding a box of sweets while busy browsing on her phone. Her heart had stopped seeing the girl and started to rush her footsteps towards her but the pink haired woman gently grabbed her wrists asking her "Where are you going, Fate-sama? That is not the way to the exit."

Forgetting what her current agenda when she saw Nanoha, she tried to brush off Signum's hand and said while gawking at the girl "Nanoha was standing in front of the lift, I wanted to see her closely and tell her that I miss her."

"I'm afraid you can't do that, Fate-sama. We need to get to the location as soon as possible. We cannot let Heika wait that long. You'll be scolded a lot." Fate stopped resisting hearing what her guard had spoke, drooping her shoulders, she can't help herself but to stare longingly at the auburn-haired girl.

Dragging her feet towards the exit, she said in a croaky voice "Sorry. Let's go."

By the time Nanoha had reached Hayate's suite, she knocked three times but when no one answered, she entered the room and to her horror, she saw Hayate's phone scattered on the floor and on the bed her friend was lying in a foetal position. She rushed on the bedside to check, confused on what had happened she asked "Hayate-chan, what happened to you? What happened here?!"

Having no response from her friend, Nanoha leaned over, she saw that Hayate was holding her necklace on her chest. She held her up, seeing her friend having a thousand yard stare she pressed her palms on her cheeks, looking straight to her eyes she spoke worriedly "Hayate-chan! Get a grip! Tell me, what happened to you!?" She looked around and continued to ask her wondering why no one was looking after her friend "Where are your guards?"

When the tanuki met her sapphired-eyed friend's gazed, tears streamed down from her eyes while gasping she said "Gomen, Nanoha-chan. I have failed my promise to you."

Muddled up by seeing her friend sobbing in tears, she pulled her closer and embraced her tightly "What promise, Hayate-chan? I don't understand? Why are you crying?"

"Alicia-chan.." Hayate buried her face to Nanoha's neck, "She was here earlier. I said a lot of horrible words towards her. She kneeled down in front of me but I kicked her and told her that if she was really sorry, she should help me contact Fate-chan."

Unable to believe what Hayate had done, not understanding the connection why her friend apologized to her she asked "Why did you kick a princess? You could have been in trouble again! Let's just hope the news won't reach their grandma. And why are you apologizing to me, Hayate-chan?"

"After I asked Alicia-chan to do something about Fate-chan, I finally met her. She was here a while ago." Hayate-tightened her hold to Nanoha, which made the auburn-haired girl felt uneasy with the thought that Fate was there and she was not able to see her. "Fate-chan doesn't want to see you."

Puzzled on what she had heard, her brows crinkled, "What makes you say that?"

Hayate released her hold on Nanoha, she faced her and said "When I told her that I must tell you that she was here, she stopped me. She even said that we can just forget about you and insisted on talking with me about Alicia-chan."

"There must be some mistake! Fate-chan would never say something like that, Hayate-chan! You know it." Still skeptical over what her friend had said to her, Nanoha raised her voice, but seeing the brunette crying made her defenses started to crumble. Her knees had started to shake.

Wiping her tears, she glanced away from her friend and put away the necklace, "I'm sorry, Nanoha-chan. But the Fate-chan that we know is now cold and distant. She was just more concerned about Alicia-chan and even threatened me not to hurt her sister again."

"Alicia-chan is her sister. Her only closest family left and you kicked her. It's natural for her to react that way, Hayate-chan." Nanoha replied while looking at Hayate's action. "Please, don't get in trouble again Hayate-chan. You're raising a red flag against a princess. You're making me worried sick with your actions."

"Yeah, she's her sister. That's why, she came here as fast as the speed of lightning when Alicia asked her to do so." Hayate responded, giving her a blank stare. "Not making any efforts to make contact with us was already questionable, Nanoha-chan."

Nanoha sat down, putting her hands over her ears not wanting to hear anymore from her friend, denying everything that she had heard, she said "Enough, Hayate-chan. I don't want to hear anything you are saying about Fate-chan. We will try to sort things out. We have to confirm it first."

Her sapphired-eyes were starting to swim in tears, it was hard for her to accept it but she knew that her friend was not lying to her. It was the brunette who always comfort her and teased her when she was feeling down. With a heavy heart she mentally groaned while clenching her fist. " _Fate-chan you liar! You should have made it clear that you no longer wanted us to be your friends."_ Trying to think the other way her mind continued to find other reasons " _But I know, in my heart you're not that kind of person. You must have your reasons. I really hope that this was just a misunderstanding on Hayate-chan's part. I can't just accept it. It really hurts a lot Fate-chan."_

 **Midchilda Senior High School**

Leaving her comfort at home and facing a new phase in life was difficult for her. Fate hardly had experienced in making friends other than Nanoha and Hayate. New acquaintances frightened her a little from the mere mention of it, she told herself that she must overcome it at all cost. Now she will try to create a whole bunch of new ones and looking forward to reconnecting with her beloved friend now that she has the chance to do her will.

Entering the gates of Midchilda Senior High School was her first step. The school was approximately four hours drive away from Chiyoda next to Uminari City. The students have to live on their own apartments or dormitories near the campus and most of them were not allowed to drive a highschool car.

By the time she had entered the school, there were lots of students who were already inside the premises. While heading her way to the school building as to where the bulletin board was to check her homeroom building, Fate felt hot in her cheeks, blushing all over with the people staring at her, thinking to herself that she was an alien to them.

In reality, the students were enchanted by her beauty especially with the boys in the upper-classes, staring at her like an angel in their midst. Some of the girls felt annoyed and threatened and some were admiring in secret thinking that she's elegant and stylishly fashionable.

The blonde had no idea as to why they were looking on from head to toe and all she was pondering about was, " _I am new, I don't know anybody, do I look different? Why are they staring at me?"_ Ignoring the curious stares of the students, she went to the area full of small lockers in which she will place her street shoes and changed it with a pair of their school slippers according to the school rules.

While the student's were all busy getting ready for the assembly, a group of girls were standing near the lockers talking loudly, a blonde girl reading a manual book coming to their direction caught their attention.

"Such a gorgeous blonde girl coming to our way. She might be a freshman too." The purple-haired girl gave a compliment that made the other two girls glanced at the entrance.

Staring at the girl from head to foot, the emerald-eyed girl spoke loudly "I don't think she's that pretty. She doesn't even tickle my fancy. Stop gawking at her, Suzuka-chan!"

Suzuka giggled a bit and said "Areeh Arisa, don't be jealous neh?"

Fate peered as to where the loud voices came from, she saw the three girls inspecting her from head to foot. Her mouth curved into a smile when she saw a familiar face that she has been longing to see for a long time, gawking at her.

"Arisa-chan, don't be like that. Look, she's smiling towards our direction. Her crimson colored eyes were enchanting right, Nanoha-chan?" Suzuka smiled back at the crimson-eyed girl, then she glanced to her friend who was not moving with her eyes fixed on the person that was smiling at her.

In Nanoha's perception, it was like Fate was walking towards her in a slow motion, meeting her gaze made her heart pound so hard. The blonde stood in front of her and could not gather any words to say.

The two girls were wondering on what they are witnessing in front of them. Arisa shook Nanoha's shoulders from her back while Suzuka was waving her hand to Nanoha's face to bring her back from where she was lost. "Nanoha-chan, are you still with us?"

Pressing her hands on her cheeks, she turned her attention to Suzuka who was giving her a curious stare, trying to hold her laughter. "Gomen, Suzuka-chan. I was just spacing out. I didn't get enough sleep last night."

After what happened on the hospital several days ago, she had been crying almost every night, and now her mind was completely cloudy. It seems to her that she was just imagining that the person who was standing in front of her was Fate.

Brows creasing, Arisa asked Nanoha when she noticed that the girl was staring at her friend intensely "What up with this girl, Nanoha-chan? Do you know her?"

Nanoha turned her back away from Fate and started to walk towards the auditorium, she said "No. I don't know her. Let's go. We need to get to the hall on time for the orientation."

Fate's mouth dropped in disbelief at what she had heard, she spoke in a low voice trying to get her friend's attention "Nanoha."

She tried to reach out her hand to her friend but the annoyed Arisa prevented her by blocking her way. "You heard our friend, right? We know she's attractive. Now, if you fancy her, I'm telling you in advance to back off."

With a heavy heart, Fate bit her lip and walked towards the opposite direction of the auditorium. Trying to perceive what just happened now, she thought to herself that maybe Nanoha doesn't recognize her appearance and persuading herself that Nanoha and her _new_ friends got the wrong end of the stick. After all, she didn't even say a single word to her friend.

Fate went outside and sat under a tree and gazed up at the lattice work of the leaves and branches. The idea of Nanoha having new friends was eating her heart out. Asking herself if she even belongs in her world? Does her friend still thinks about her? What if the auburn-haired girl was angry at her for not communicating to her for almost two years? How is she going to reconcile with Nanoha after seeing that her friends were guarding her like ferocious guard dogs that were ready to slaughter her anytime especially the green-eyed monster? All those thoughts in her head were giving her such a headache. She felt like she was dying inside remembering what Nanoha had said, she clasped her hands on her head while mentally sobbing. ' _I don't know what to do with you now, Nanoha. What should I do?'_

The orientation for the freshmen was already done and most of the students had gone to their respective homerooms. Sitting at her desk in the first row beside the window, Nanoha was confused by what was happening around her. Her mind overthinking about a certain person who had topped the entrance examination. " _Fate Testarossa."_ Was she hallucinating due to her _obsession_ with Fate? Earlier, she was enchanted by a crimson-eyed girl and at first she thought that she was being silly for imagining that it was her beloved friend. " _That idiot. There's no way that she could be here. Why does the top scorer has a similar name to Fate-chan and it even coincide with Alicia's family name. It would have been better if that person showed up on stage!"_ Nanoha thought to herself feeling exhausted, she rested her chin on her right hand, she sighed while looking at outside the window.

"Nanoha-chan." Shizuka poked her back to call her attention. She turned her head along with her body as to why her friend prod her. "It's your turn to introduce yourself now. Sensei has been calling you, but it seems that you're spacing out." Everyone in the class made a discreet laugh.

Nanoha gently rose from her seat and looked around the classroom, meeting the gazed of her classmates and teacher, she smiled and slightly bowed her head while cheerfully saying. "I'm sorry if I was spacing out." Giving her classmates a cocky winked and confident smile enough to shut them up she continued. "By the way, I'm Nanoha Takamachi. I wish I could get along with everyone!"

As when she finished her self introduction, a genteel young blonde with a cold piercing stare entered the classroom that caught everyone's attention including her. Her heart was starting to race in her chest when the girl fixed her eyes on her, she gasped her breath.

"Who could you be and why are you late? Kindly introduce yourself." The teacher asked the newly arrived student.

"Fate Testarossa. My apologies for being tardy, Sensei." The blonde spoke without looking to anyone but to Nanoha who was gawking at her too.

The teacher rested her hands on her table and said. "It seems that this year's entrance exams ace skipped the assembly." Everyone was making commotion when they heard what their sensei had said. "Anyway, Testarossa-san, kindly take your seat next to Tsukimura-san."

"Thank you, Sensei." Fate dragged her feet towards Nanoha's direction and stood in front of her. She looked down, meeting her sapphire eyes while reaching out her hand, she stroked the lighting pendant on her necklace that made the auburn-haired girl's face turn crimson red. Fate thought to herself " _Nanoha, you're still wearing my necklace. I'm glad you took care of it."_

Everyone was staring on the pair that were seems to be lost in their own world, gazing at each other like lovesick puppies. Nanoha was dumbstruck, carefully inspecting Fate's face, her soft expression towards her and even though she hadn't seen her for years, she knew it was her, those piercing crimson red eyes that she loved to stare at were the proof. This was the person that her heart had been yearning to see for such a long time.

" _Fate-chan, it's really you right? You're real and tangible and not just my imagination, right?"_ Nanoha pinched her arm to be sure if she wasn't dreaming. " _No this isn't a dream! W-wha-wha-what the hell is she doing here?!"_ Nanoha jerked back from her seat when she felt that the pain from her arm was real. Caught by surprised of Fate's sudden appearance, she was starting to have trouble in maintaining an eye contact with the blonde, Nanoha looked away from her, instead she look around her classmates who were became more curious on what they had just witnessed. " _It doesn't matter if the world is staring at us! Fate-chan is here!"_ She covered her face with her hands while gasping her breath. Looking back on what happened to the hospital, she felt like it doesn't make any sense and asked herself. " _But what the hell? Hayate-chan said Fate-chan doesn't want to see me and she was really sorry about it."_ Bemused on what was happening she continued think " _Which one was true?! Ahhh! There's no point in thinking about it! I must ask Fate-chan directly after the class!"_ She turned her glance on the window while fiddling on the pendant, she felt somewhat relieved to see her beloved and she knew that this time, she can do something about her friends. " _If it's true that you no longer want to be with me as you once promised Fate-chan, by hook or by crook, I'll make sure to push my way to you. I'll make you realize what you had missed all these years. I'll never let you go again. Never. Also, you have to apologize to Hayate-chan too."_

In contrast to what the sapphire-eyed girl felt, seeing Nanoha act that way, Fate looked down on the floor thinking that the auburn-haired girl doesn't want to be touched by her. Feeling dejected, she sat down on her desk, her bottom lip was jutting out, she took a deep breathe fighting back her tears while fixing her eyes on Nanoha who was now staring outside the window trying to calm herself down. " _What happened to our promise, Nanoha? Why aren't you looking at me? Why won't you smile at me? What am I to you?"_ Being cut to the quick by the person that the princess cherished made her feel like her heart was stabbed by a knife a million times.

The morning classes were done without Fate paying attention. All the while she was just staring at Nanoha that made Tsukimura-san wondered while Arisa was pissed off just by the thought that the crimson-eyed girl was giving Takamachi an unsettling feeling. While Nanoha was fidgeting and could not wait for the time that she could claim and marked her territory around Fate. But to her dismay, the emerald-eyed monster rushed to her seat as soon as the last subject in the morning was finished, preventing Fate from approaching her. But to Arisa's surprised, the crimson-eyed blonde did not move from her seat while their classmates started to gather around Nanoha and Fate asking questions.

"Neh! Testarossa-san, you're so pretty and stylish! Where did you come from?"

"Sugoi Testarossa-san! How did you get a perfect score on our entrance exam hell? You must be a genius!"

"Testarossa-san, do you personally know Takamachi-san? You seems to be in your own world together!" The glasses-girl giggled. "You've been fixing your eyes on her the whole morning! I'm in a fangirling mode now!"

"Testarossa-san, do you want to eat lunch with us?"

One of the girls leaned closer to her face to take a closer look on her eye. "Aree? You have a pair of enchanting dark crimson-eyes, Testarossa-san!" Fate twitch in her seat not expecting that someone will invade her space other than Nanoha.

The barrage of questions that her classmates were throwing at her without giving her a chance to answer were starting to get into her nerves. Glancing on Nanoha's direction, she pressed her lips together, seeing the auburn-haired girl smiling happily towards her classmates and friends made her feel jealous. When she could no longer withstand the view, she stood up and without saying a word she strode out of the classroom leaving her classmates annoyed with her actions.

"What an arrogant bitch!" One of their classmates exclaimed.

When Nanoha heard her classmates complaints and saw Fate heading towards the door, she decided that she must excuse herself and follow the blonde no matter what.

"Where are you going Nanoha-chan?" Suzuka asked.

"Gomen, I have to follow her. Excuse me for a while. You can go ahead, eat lunch without me." Nanoha started to put her things hurriedly inside her bag. She has been struggling to run away from her classmates to approach her best friend, but they just keep on asking her questions and now Fate had gone out of the classroom without saying hi. It made her feel uneasy and at the same time worried seeing that Fate ignored her classmates. She knew that Fate might be haughty sometimes due to her royal upbringing, but she wasn't rude and arrogant like the other royals act.

Arisa stretched out her arms wide in front of the sapphire eyed girl, blocking her way. "Follow who? Don't tell me Nanoha-chan, you were bewitched by that crimson-eyed witch? She's a weirdo! Don't be fooled by her looks!"

Nanoha paused and glared at Arisa, giving her an unblinking focused eye contact, sending a message that don't boss me around or else I will not forgive you. "Don't you dare to call her that again, Arisa. Have some respect. You don't know whom are you referring to. Now, if you'll excuse me. Get out of my way." As when she's done speaking, she stood up in front of the girls whom were talking to Fate earlier, she bowed her head and said. "Girls, please excuse her behavior. It wasn't her intention to be rude. She was just not used to this kind of situation. I'll go and talk to her." Nanoha stormed off towards the exit when her classmates smiled at her. While she was walking to the corridors she was exchanging messages to Hayate.

 _Nanoha: "Hayate-chan baka! Fate-chan is here at school! On top of that, she's my classmate! She approached me twice already but I shrugged her off without noticing it! What's up with the drama in the hospital? I don't understand now? Surely, you've messed up my brain big time for the past several days!_

 _Now Fate-chan has run away looking depressed. I have to find her and fix the misunderstanding this instant!"_

 _Hayate: "What the hell is she doing there?! Maybe it was just a coincidence that you go to the same school!"_

 _Nanoha: "Idiot! She's younger than us! She even mentioned it before that it would be impossible to be in the same grade together! That isn't a coincidence! I really thought she doesn't want to see me! You better apologize to her soon."_

 _Hayate: "Gomen. Go and find her then. I'll come and find you after school and see if we can fix everything. See you."_

 _Nanoha: "Baka! You better come or I'll gonna make you a roasted tanuki. I hate to say this, but I don't want to go into the middle school department, so don't keep me waiting. I'll drag Fate-chan along. I'll make sure she'll apologize to you too. Ja ne!"_

 **Ooops! That was kinda long but still not enough, neh?**

 **Seriously guys, I wanna know what you think so drop some reviews! That will make me happy.**

 **So, who won the drama? Lol..**

 **Bubbleduckie: Thank you so much for taking much time reading the fic. Also, I would like to answer your question.. Fate was the youngest among the three. A baby Fate indeed niyahaha!**

 **Guest: (OMG so many guest names on the reviews but here's my reply.) : I'm glad that you had a happy childhood and thank you for sharing it on the reviews. Also, for the word "collaborating" yep.. It's funny.. xD**

 **Kivaflames: Heya! Thanks for taking an interest in this story kitty2 nyan. Well, we are still in the flashback so please be patient with it.**

 **Rijaja.77: Hmmm Well, I hope you like this chapter. Thank you so much for sending me PM's whenever you're not busy.**


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